Santos Transfer Sparks Doubts from Scholes and Butt

Manchester United are closing in on Andrey Santos. The medical is done, the paperwork is signed, and Fabrizio Romano has already called it: a £50m package, contract to 2031 with an option, announcement due on Friday.

Yet as United prepare to present their new Brazilian midfielder, two men who know Old Trafford’s standards better than most are looking at the deal and shaking their heads.

Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt are not convinced.

“Nothing stands out” – Butt questions £50m logic

United’s summer brief is clear: rebuild the midfield. At least two, possibly three new faces. Ederson from Atalanta is close, though his second medical has prompted some concern. The club have already decided against overpaying for the likes of Elliot Anderson, Matheus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali.

Santos, though, is the one they’ve pushed the button on.

Romano set the scene on X: Andrey Santos has completed a “successful medical” as a new Manchester United player, with the clubs signing off on a £50m package. The 22-year-old is due to sign on Friday, tying him to Old Trafford until June 2031.

The fee is elite. Butt’s enthusiasm is not.

“If he’s brought in at £25-30 million you could understand it, Man United need to build a squad,” Butt told Paddy Power. “It’s not just about the lads on the pitch, you’ve got to have better players on the bench. But he’s not being signed for £50m to just be sat on the bench, he has to be a starter.”

That’s where his doubts bite.

“I’ve seen him play a few times but nothing stands out that makes you go, ‘Wow, he’s got great ability on the ball or he’s a powerhouse’.

“It’s come totally out of the blue. It’s either genius by the recruitment team and they’re saying, ‘This lad is going to be the next big thing, we’ll pay the £50m quick and throw him straight in the deep end’.

“But by virtue of him only starting 13 games for Chelsea last year, who finished 10th, it doesn’t scream out a good signing to me.

“I hope I’m wrong, I hope he turns out to be a great player and blows us away.”

The numbers back up his unease. Thirteen league starts for a mid-table Chelsea side is a slender platform for a £50m move to a club demanding an instant transformation in midfield.

“United haven’t got time” – pressure on from day one

Butt’s concern isn’t just about talent. It’s about timing.

He would be far more relaxed about Santos if this was one piece of a bigger, heavyweight rebuild.

“If United shock us all and go out and buy another midfielder for £100million and he’s just one more they’re going to give a bit of time to, then I get it,” he said.

Right now, he sees a club gambling on potential when it desperately needs proof.

“You’re looking at other players who have gone to other places – Elliot Anderson, Matheus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali – they’ve been proper players in the Premier League and they look like they’ve played in the division for 10 years.

“This lad’s barely played 10 games. It’s a strange one, it’s not one I’m jumping around going, ‘What a signing, I’m really happy with it’.

“We need players in midfield that make us a lot better. I really don’t like having a go at young players or new signings before they go and prove themselves, but it’s one where they’re buying potential over someone that’s done it.

“He could come and blow us away and everyone’s saying, ‘What a signing, he could be the best signing of the last five-ten years at Man United’. But then again he could just end up being another Manuel Ugarte that doesn’t perform at the top level.

“Because we should always buy younger players who have the potential to kick on for the future. But if he’s getting thrown straight in the deep end and he’s got to produce at the highest level… United haven’t got time to let people settle in for a year or two, they have to hit the ground running.”

That last line is the heart of it. United, back in the Champions League and staring at three-game weeks, cannot afford a slow burn. They need certainty in the middle of the pitch. They’re paying a price that usually buys it. They’re getting a player who still has to prove it.

Scholes: “Why are Chelsea selling him?”

On The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Scholes cut straight through the noise.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of excitement about it is there? Put it that way,” he said.

His first question wasn’t about systems or roles. It was about the selling club.

“Why are Chelsea selling him, a 22-year-old kid?”

It’s a blunt, old-pro way of looking at recruitment: if a rival with big ambitions is happy to cash in on a young midfielder, what do they know that you don’t?

Scholes also looked around at what United have missed. Tonali has gone to Tottenham. Bruno Guimaraes, a player he rates, seems set on Arsenal.

“[Bruno] Guimaraes, who is a really good player, I still don’t think he would have suited Manchester United legs-wise, but it looks like he wants to go to Arsenal.”

Names like Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton still hover on the radar.

“I suppose he could be a possibility. I think he’s still a good player and will be available at the right price. They’ve got to do something.”

The “something” has, for now, become Santos.

A signing for tomorrow, when United need today

Scholes then turned to the wider strategy – or what he fears it might be.

“Ultimately, with Manchester United especially, it will be the fellas at the top of the club who would be deciding [targets].

“And I think they might see some value in this player [Andrey Santos] as a sellable [asset]. But Manchester United buying players as a sell-on value? We need players for now.

“We’ve got the Champions League next year, we’ve got three games a week. It’s going to be awful without these players.”

There it is: the clash between model and moment.

United’s hierarchy may see Santos as a long-term asset, a player whose value can grow, a bet on upside. Scholes and Butt see a club that needs ready-made midfield authority, not another project who might come good in two years.

Santos will walk into a dressing room where two of the club’s most decorated midfielders are already sceptical, a fanbase split between curiosity and concern, and a fixture list that will not wait for him to adjust.

For £50m, he cannot just be a promise. He has to be an answer.