Andrey Santos can play a crucial role for Chelsea after Brazil Under-20 triumph

With the South American Under-20 Championships now over, Andrey Santos’ attention will return to club football.

The midfielder is not heading back to his homeland but will instead board a flight back to London to link up with Chelsea, who struck a deal to sign Santos before his stock flew through the roof with some stellar showings at this latest tournament.

Santos finished joint-top scorer alongside teammate Vitor Roque, bagging six goals en route to lifting the trophy and leaving Blues fans’ mouths watering over what the future holds for their £18m signing.

The first hurdle is to obtain the work permit for which Santos did not automatically qualify for when he joined from the second tier of Brazilian football. As 90min revealed last week, Chelsea are confident Santos will be given a permit from the Exceptions Panel due to his value and sky-high potential – a cause which has only been boosted by his victory at the tournament.

Should he receive his permit as expected, Santos will link up with his new teammates as soon as possible and will quickly start to show the world why he is so highly rated.

Supporters are currently drooling over another new recruit, Enzo Fernandez, who has shone in the early weeks of his Blues career, and there are plenty of reasons to believe that Santos could slot in perfectly alongside the Argentine.

What’s worth clarifying straight away is the fact that Santos is not typically a prolific goalscorer. Six goals in eight games of a tournament is a sensational record but does not tell the same story as his club statistics – eight goals in 37 games for Vasco da Gama.

Seven of those goals came in his final 18 league games, so it’s fair to say that Santos is showing significant potential in front of goal, but fans would be wise to temper expectations that the 18-year-old could be the heir to Frank Lampard’s throne in Chelsea’s midfield.

Instead, what Santos does offer is a relentless engine that he is happy to apply to both ends of the pitch, with most of his best work actually coming on the defensive end.

In a similar fashion to N’Golo Kante, the indefatigable Santos is great at snuffing out potential threats from the first minute to the last and is then quick to kick-start counters, whether that be driving forward on his own or handing the ball over to a creator like Fernandez.

Santos won’t match Fernandez’s passing numbers but will happily offer an alternative option for his teammates, which will at the very least force a defender or two to keep an eye on him instead of his £106m-rated teammate.

It’s a play-style which almost suits Fernandez down to a tee. Chelsea need someone to do the ugly side of things and play their part going forwards as well – it’s why Declan Rice is being touted as a the next big-money signing – and Santos offers that in a way Chelsea’s current crop of midfielders do not.

The decision for Graham Potter will be on whether Santos is ready for such a significant step up in his career just yet. After all, the teenager has just been playing in the second tier of Brazilian football and arrives at Stamford Bridge after impressing in a youth tournament. Transitioning to the top half of the Premier League may not be easy.

However, with many of the Blues’ midfielders either underperforming or unavailable through injury, Santos may get the chance to make an immediate impact, and there’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the teenager.