After a somewhat quiet transfer window, especially considering the fact we have lost four players in addition to two on loan, it all kicked in to life yesterday when Arsenal were reported to have made bids for Premiership players Florent Malouda, Alex, Yossi Benayoun and Gary Cahill as well as the Fernebache left-back Andre Santos. Fernebache have been rocked by a match-fixing scandal and omitted from the Champions League, prompting their star players to depart. And as Armand Traore has a medical at Queen’s Park Rangers, is Andre Santos the man to claim the Arsenal left back position as his own?

credit to The Sun

What’s his pedigree?: The 28-year-old Brazilian left-back was a late developer in terms of the top-tier of club football, with his first real taste of success coming at Corinthians in the 2008-2009 season where he won two league titles and the domestic cup (the Brazilian season is operated differently) and after making his international debut has gone on to win 22 Brazil first team caps. From there he has spent two seasons with Turkish champions Fernebache having signed for €9 million and replaced legendary fullback Roberto Carlos down the left. Having scored 10 goals in 52 games for the team, Andre Santos has continued the tradition of goal-scoring Brazilian fullbacks and is a potent attacking weapon deployed almost as a left winger against lesser teams.

How’s the chemistry?: Having Santos at left back will be something the league has never seen before, a defender with a bag of tricks that Ronaldo would be proud of who loves to wade inside with the ball to the edge of the area before choosing to pass or shoot. However, Santos is not the tallest at 5’11″ and not the strongest either, so coping with marking the Andy Carrolls and being picked up by the Nigel De Jong’s of this world will be one of his biggest tests along with passing. Like a lot of Brazilians throughout the ages, Andre is a greedy player and plays seal dribbles and no-look passes where a simple side foot would do, leading to his hit-or-miss label which he earnt at Fernebache over his wonky passing, defending and penchant for nights out.

Do we have a chance?: Signing Fernebache players at the moment should be very simple but with the window closing tomorrow it could be a race against time; while this is a realistic transfer, it is one we wouldn’t have made in June or July because Santos is simply not who we would have been looking for in a fullback. In terms of media, it was headline news in a number of Turkish outlets yesterday evening and this morning was also in English sources, with the BBC breaking the story last night. Allegedly, the player is due to fly in for his medical this morning and hopefully we’ll have secured a new left back by deadline day so that we can focus on getting a centre-half.
Likely bid: €7.5 million. Probability: 9/10, all but a done deal.

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