Rivals believe Man United overpaid Chelsea by £25m for Andrey Santos as Wilcox faces scrutiny

Manchester United’s £50m signing of Andrey Santos from Chelsea is drawing sharp criticism from within the Premier League, with sources close to the Blues reportedly believing the 22-year-old was worth no more than £25m — a view that is adding to the scrutiny facing director of football Jason Wilcox.

Santos was one of three midfielders United recruited in the summer window, alongside Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba, in a spending spree that totalled just over £150m. The trio were initially praised as shrewd additions, but all three have endured difficult starts to the season, and the Santos valuation question has since emerged to cast doubt on the club’s transfer strategy.

According to The Athletic, some inside Chelsea considered the deal an excellent piece of business, with the fee regarded as well above market value for a player who made just 47 senior appearances after joining the club in January 2023. United’s position, the report notes, is that the fee was accurate for a market inflated across the board, and that Santos and Baleba — both in their early twenties — still have significant room to develop.

The wider context complicates the picture. Elliot Anderson’s move from Nottingham Forest to Manchester City set a new British transfer record for an English player at £116m, before Morgan Rogers eclipsed it by joining Chelsea. Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes joined Tottenham for a combined £185m. United, without the financial firepower to compete for a single marquee signing, opted for volume — a decision that made sense in theory but is now being stress-tested by early-season results.

On the pitch, manager Michael Carrick has leaned on academy product Kobbie Mainoo as his first-choice midfielder, with Santos expected to partner him against Aston Villa on Sunday. Tielemans has struggled to hide the defensive vulnerabilities that Aston Villa largely kept hidden during his time there, while Baleba’s season has been disrupted by injury — first an ankle problem carried over from Brighton, and now a hamstring concern that Carrick confirmed after the Champions League win over AS Roma.

“I haven’t got any more news on Carlos at this stage, but it’s his hamstring,” Carrick said. “We’ll have to assess what that looks like, but initially, it doesn’t look great.”

With Baleba likely to miss the Villa fixture and the Tielemans-Santos combination yet to convince, Carrick faces a selection puzzle of his own — one that reflects the broader uncertainty surrounding a midfield rebuild that cost United the best part of £150m.