Rarely-seen Nottingham Forest player now set to leave after just one PL appearance

Chelsea are set to recall Andrey Santos from Nottingham Forest when the January transfer window opens.

The Reds have utilised the Brazil Under-23 captain for just seven minutes in the Premier League this season.

Santos signed for the club in August and quickly completed his first 90 minutes against Burnley in the Carabao Cup.

However, on transfer deadline day, Forest landed Ibrahim Sangare and Nicolas Dominguez, shunting Santos down the pecking order.

Chelsea set to recall Santos in January

Forest fought off a host of competition to sign Santos after he’d starred on Chelsea’s tour of America in pre-season.

Juninho Pernambucano praised Santos before he signed for the Blues, calling him a ‘complete player’ when he was at Vasco da Gama.

Chelsea have big things on the horizon for Santos but this season was all about him playing regular football.

Earlier today, the Evening Standard suggested that Chelsea have finally lost patience and look set to make the decision to recall him in January.

It doesn’t appear as though Steve Cooper fancies the Brazilian too much given his limited game time.

He was on the bench for games against Aston Villa, Luton, Crystal Palace, Brentford and Burnley but hasn’t made the squad for the last two games.

Santos needs to play a certain undisclosed number of games before January to stop him from being recalled.

It looks very unlikely that he will get there and Chelsea will be able to activate the recall option.

Forest are going to be short of midfielders when the African Nations Cup comes around.

Sangare will head off to play for Ivory Coast, whilst backup option Cheikhou Kouyate will also head off.

Letting Santos leave makes perfect sense for Forest, however.

It’s a significant wage off the club’s books and paves the way for another domestic loan to come into the club during the transfer window.