A bolt from the blue to rejuvenate Manchester United’s midfield? A clever market opportunity to help bolster the ranks? Or a budget deal to avoid panic later in the transfer window?What’s to be made of Andrey Santos, who is edging towards joining United from Chelsea in a deal initially worth £48million ($64.4m)?The 22-year-old Brazilian midfielder has had an unconventional time in English football, including making 43 appearances for Chelsea across the 2025-26 campaign under three different head coaches.Here is a cheat sheet explaining what he might offer United head coach Michael Carrick and his backroom staff if he moved to Old Trafford.What is Andrey Santos good at?He may be young, having turned 22 in May, but Santos plays with a cool, wise head. For much of his time playing for Chelsea, he helped bring balance to a midfield that threatened to become lopsided due to the attacking forays of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez.To put it plainly, he’s a steady player.Santos’ approach to the game contains mild thrills and minimal spills.Last season, he was most commonly seen making quick movements in the early build-up to free up Caicedo whenever possible. He was fond of staggering the midfield, offering himself as an easy pass if Chelsea’s defence found themselves in a pinch.He’s a good one-touch passer and doesn’t get flustered with a defender breathing down his neck.If you’re the sort of football fan who bemoans a team’s lack of movement when looking to get the ball forward, having Santos in the team should calm your viewing experience. He is someone who makes an effort to make himself available for a pass, and is good at indicating to team-mates that they need to redirect things to work around an opposition block.He is sensible and efficient when distributing the ball and thrives when making short passing combinations with like-minded individuals.In addition, he’s shown promise passing into the final third when a good opportunity to do so presents itself. Take this excellent through ball to Marc Cucurella against Nottingham Forest…Santos has a good eye for a through ball, but prefers to exploit pre-existing errors in the opposition’s shape, rather than forcing the issue himself. The high-risk/high-reward passes that are a staple of Bruno Fernandes, Adam Wharton and others are not a huge part of his repertoire, at least for now.That Santos ranked among some of the best midfielders in the Premier League for line-breaking passes last season is promising.