Andrey Santos: The £50m Gamble for Manchester United's Midfield
Paul Ince has never been one to sugar-coat an opinion. And as Manchester United reshape their midfield at huge expense, the former Old Trafford enforcer is staring hard at one name in particular.
Andrey Santos.
“Jury’s still out,” he says. And he’s “baffled” by the size of the gamble.
A £50m question in midfield
United spent last summer tearing up their forward line, dropping close to £200million on Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko to jolt a misfiring attack back to life.
This year the surgery has moved deeper. Casemiro’s departure has left a sizeable hole at the base of midfield and forced the club into an aggressive hunt for reinforcements. Targets came and went. Elliot Anderson slipped to Manchester City. Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes chose Tottenham.
So United turned to Chelsea’s Santos, moving quickly to close a deal in the region of £50m for the 22-year-old Brazil international. For Ince, that is where the alarm bells started ringing.
“They’ve signed the lad Santos from Chelsea for £50m, which is a lot of money for someone like him. I think the jury’s still out on that one,” he told Oddschecker.
The figure bothers him. The timing bothers him. Above all, the message it sends to one of United’s brightest academy products bothers him.
“To spend £50m on a young central midfield player when you’ve got [Kobbie] Mainoo coming through the ranks, kind of baffled me a bit.”
United have not stopped at Santos either. After stepping back from a move for Ederson, they pounced on Youri Tielemans, activating a £35m release clause to lure the Belgian away from Aston Villa. They remain keen on reviving the Ederson deal with Atalanta, Ince believes, as the club stockpiles options in the middle of the pitch.
“They’ve got a whole load of midfield players in that position which needed to be strengthened,” he says. “Obviously Tielemans I think is a fantastic player. More of a Fernandes type of player, but a very good player.”
Mainoo at the crossroads
For all the money and movement, Ince keeps circling back to one name: Kobbie Mainoo.
He sees in the 19-year-old the profile United have been crying out for – and the character to handle the responsibility.
“I think he’s the man who can play that role. I believe that, he’s got a really good head on his shoulders. He’s young, he’s got legs, he can keep hold of the ball.”
Ince watched Mainoo closely last season and, by his own admission, was not always convinced. The teenager kept it neat and tidy. Too neat, too tidy for a player in that role, in Ince’s eyes.
“I always thought when Mainoo, when I watched him, he kind of did things easy, got it, passed it. When you play that role, and I’ve played that role for 20 years, you’ve got to do more than that.
You’ve got to get forward, get into the box, and take shots, he never, never really did that. He just did the simple things.”
Then something changed.
“Towards the back end of the season, he started to tackle, win balls, set things up, get himself in the box, make things happen. And he looks a completely different player.
“So if he can repeat that form this season, then, you know, I think it’d be great for United.”
Michael Carrick now has to turn that potential into a plan. With Santos, Tielemans, the lingering Ederson interest and Mainoo’s emergence, the former United midfielder has a crowded whiteboard to organise.
“So it’ll be interesting to see which way Carrick goes,” Ince says, clearly intrigued by how his old club’s midfield will be built.
Rashford’s future in the balance
Midfield isn’t the only fault line at Old Trafford this summer. Marcus Rashford’s future remains one of the most delicate and emotive issues around the club.
The England international rebuilt his confidence on loan at Barcelona last season after falling out of favour under Ruben Amorim. He scored goals, carried threat, and looked like a player unburdened.
“I kind of feel for Rashford. I really do because I think he’s a fantastic player,” Ince says. “He can play off the left, he can play off the right. I’m not sure if many people watched him last year playing for Barcelona, he was scoring goals, he was enjoying himself, and he looked a completely, completely different player.”
Then came the twist. Barcelona, instead of turning the loan into a permanent deal, went out and spent £75m on Anthony Gordon.
“And then when you think are they going to take him, are they going to take the deal? And then to go and buy Gordon for 75 million. It absolutely kills him.”
Rashford still produced flashes at the World Cup, including that trademark strike cutting in from the left and finding the bottom corner. The talent, Ince insists, has never been in doubt.
“So he’s got that magic, he’s got that talent.”
What he needs now, Ince believes, is clarity and care. And that is where Carrick comes in.
“I think Carrick can get the best out of him. I really, really do. I think if you just put your arm around Rashford, and I think at the moment he’s a bit unsure of his future. He doesn’t know whether he’s coming or going.
If Carrick just puts his arm around him and says, ‘Yeah, listen, you know, I want you at the club, I need you at the club. This is where you’re going to play. This is what you’re going to do.’ Then I believe you’re going to see a very, very good Rashford for Manchester United.
“So, fingers crossed that’s the case. But there’s one thing for sure, he is a very, very talented player and if he’s happy, he’ll perform for you.”
Reports suggest Carrick is prepared to give Rashford the platform to resurrect his United career. If he grasps it, the narrative around both player and club could change quickly.
Carrick’s early tests
United’s pre-season has already offered a glimpse of the work ahead. A flat 1-0 defeat to Wrexham in Helsinki opened their schedule and underlined the teething problems of a squad in transition.
The response was emphatic. A 5-0 demolition of Rosenborg restored some confidence and hinted at the attacking potential Carrick is trying to unlock.
Next comes a sharper examination: Atletico Madrid in Stockholm this weekend, followed by a trio of tests against Paris Saint-Germain, Leeds United and AC Milan.
These are not just fitness exercises. They are auditions. For Santos to justify the fee. For Tielemans to settle into United’s rhythm. For Mainoo to prove he belongs at the heart of it all. For Rashford to show he is still one of the club’s defining players.
The Premier League season starts away to newly promoted Hull City on August 22. By then, Carrick must have more than options. He needs answers.
