Nottingham Forest boss asked about Andrey Santos as Chelsea loanee waits to make Premier League debut

Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper says he has spoken with Chelsea about Andrey Santos’ lack of playing time so far during his loan stint at the City Ground.

The 19-year-old joined Forest on a season-long loan from the Blues in his first full stint in English football.

Chelsea bought Santos from Vasco de Gama last January but loaned the midfielder back to the Brazilian side for the rest of the 2022-23 season.

The full international has only made one appearance under Steve Cooper – starting the EFL Cup second round defeat at home to Burnley – and is still waiting to make his Premier League debut.

“He’s been good. He’s obviously a really good young player,” said Cooper about Santos.

“I had a really good chat with Chelsea [about him] this week – I didn’t realise some stuff had been written about him.

“There’s a lot of new players here and we’re really trying to get the balance right in integrating all the players at the right time while trying to perform as best we can in every single game to get the results we want. That’s a real process.

“With young players, sometimes it can take longer than others to settle in. I’m not saying he’s not, it’s just circumstantial at the moment in some of the games.

“But we’re really enjoying working with him and seeing him in training. We will continue with that process.”