Steve Cooper was unaware that Forest had signed the 19-year-old until he arrived at training
Andrey Santos was one of the more bizarre signings made by Nottingham Forest in the summer and yesterday he was recalled by Chelsea.
Now, it’s emerged in an article from The Athletic that Steve Cooper didn’t want him.
So, what has the publication said about Forest signing Santos in the first place? Let’s take a look…
Steve Cooper didn’t want Andrey Santos at Forest
This hardly comes as a surprise given that Cooper – sacked by Forest in December – used Santos for a total of seven minutes in the Premier League.
Now, The Athletic has made a quite astonishing claim about Forest signing Santos on a season-long loan from Chelsea in the first place.
They have claimed that Cooper didn’t know the club had even signed the Brazilian wonderkid until he arrived for training one day.
Given that Cooper was a head coach, it’s perhaps not so alarming that he wasn’t included in every signing the club made but this just sounds ridiculous.
Santos was yesterday recalled by Chelsea and it’s believed that several other clubs are now vying to take him on loan.
The 19-year-old is widely tipped for big things and Cooper did praise Santos for his efforts in training when he was at Forest.
Nobody is saying that the owner and his son shouldn’t have some say in recruitment but they must include the head coach in any plans they have.
Forest have signed far too many players since reaching the Premier League that have played little or no part in any success.
It’s refreshing that Nuno Espirito Santo has spoken of a desire to streamline the squad; with no more than three players to be added this month.
Signings like Santos make little sense and Forest might have now strained their relationship with Chelsea.
The teenager is a talented player who captains the Brazil under-23 team and the Blues won’t be happy that he’s played barely any football this season.
Forest have done some exceptional deals. Murillo, Morgan Gibbs-White, Danilo, Nicolas Dominguez and Moussa Niakhate have all made an impact – and there are others.
However, Santos, along with Divock Origi and Nuno Tavares have proved very poor loan signings from a Forest perspective.
With that in mind, the recruitment strategy is hardly perfect at Forest just yet and they must learn something from this Santos debacle.
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