£48m Man Utd Signing Santos Set to Train on Monday Under Carrick | OneFootball

Andrey Santos was present at Carrington on Saturday but did not participate in the session, with the £48 million Chelsea midfielder expected to begin training with Manchester United’s squad on Monday, according to UtdDistrict, citing insider account Djaameel.

The timing makes Santos effectively United’s first official summer signing under Michael Carrick, with a formal club announcement expected imminently. The deal is structured at £48 million plus £2 million in add-ons as the 22-year-old swaps Stamford Bridge for Old Trafford.

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Integration Into a Pre-Season Already Underway

United’s non-World Cup players have already returned to Carrington ahead of the 2026/27 campaign, with the club’s first pre-season fixture – against Wrexham in Finland – scheduled for 18 July. Santos landing in training on Monday gives him just over a week to acclimatise before the squad flies out on tour.

Players involved at the World Cup, including Bruno Fernandes and Noussair Mazraoui, will report later. That staggered return means Santos joins a group that is manageable in size but already working to Carrick’s structure – a reasonable window for an early start on the new training culture Carrick has installed at Carrington.

Full background on the Santos transfer agreement from Stretty News.

What Santos Brings – and What United Still Need

Santos developed through loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Strasbourg after joining Chelsea from Vasco da Gama in January 2023. His time at Strasbourg in particular – where he registered 10 goals and 3 assists – shifted his profile from raw project to a midfielder with a genuine goal threat from deep positions.

Signing Santos and the pending arrival of Karl Darlow addresses two immediate squad needs, but United are still short in midfield volume. The linked article on the Santos deal notes that Manu Koné and João Gomes remain possible additions before the window moves on, with Carrick keen to give any new midfielders sufficient pre-season time to absorb his system ahead of a Champions League return.

The Éderson pursuit, flagged in the same Roundtable report, has been confirmed as off. United’s focus this week appears squarely on getting Santos through the door officially and assessing what further midfield depth is realistic before the tour departs.