Andrey Santos scores again as Brazil beat Ecuador at CONMEBOL U20 Championship

Chelsea youngster Andrey Santos made it four goals in four games last night, as Brazil beat Ecuador in the first game of the second group stage at the CONMEBOL U20 Championship in South America.

Santos’s goal in the 81st minute came just a few minutes after Ecuador had cut the deficit in half to set up a grandstand finish, which the Brazil U20 captain swiftly denied. The youngster has scored in a variety of ways — foot, head, set piece, dribbling, etc — and this one was a well directed side-foot volley from an indirect free kick.

His goal also came not long after Chelsea finalized the transfer of Jorginho to Arsenal, with Andrey Santos potentially a big part of the reason why we let our Vice-captain go now. (The other big part is undoubtedly the £10+2m that Arsenal agreed to pay.)

Chelsea are reportedly targeting a first-team role for the 18-year-old Santos once he’s done with international duty — provided we can secure him a work permit.