Santos passes Manchester United medical and will be unveiled on Friday! Idol Casemiro, the reason behind the Red Devils' speedy signing revealed

No issues this time! Italian transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that André Santos has successfully passed the medical arranged by Manchester United and officially become a member of the club. All documents for the £50 million transfer from Chelsea have been signed, and Santos will officially sign and be unveiled on Friday, with a contract lasting until 2031 plus a one-season extension option. Santos has already removed Chelsea references from his social media profiles, preparing to switch them to Manchester United.

Manchester United's summer window plan has always been to sign two or three new midfielders to rebuild the team, including one top-tier player to replace 34-year-old Casemiro, who has now officially left the club.

The Red Devils made progress in their recruitment but encountered many difficulties in finding the right candidates. The players who ultimately joined, such as André Santos or Ederson, were not the ones fans initially expected.

The arrival of these two players will bring the squad depth that Manchester United needs, but they certainly do not possess the level of a top-class midfielder that fans were hoping for.

Players like Elliott Anderson, who joined Manchester City for £116 million, or Aurélien Tchouaméni, who has agreed to stay at Real Madrid, would have been more fitting, or at least Sandro Tonali—who joined Tottenham—or even Matheus Fernandes.

After repeatedly being blocked in their attempts to sign others, Manchester United quickly secured Santos, demonstrating their flexibility. The 22-year-old Brazilian is highly regarded by United's transfer director, Christopher Vivell, who originally signed Santos during his time at Chelsea.

This move naturally carries risks. Compared to the other midfielders mentioned, Santos has the least experience, with only 28 Premier League appearances, one of which came during a loan spell at Nottingham Forest.

Furthermore, the other new midfielder identified by United, Ederson, has never played in the Premier League. Although he performed well in Serie A and the Champions League, it is difficult to determine whether he can immediately adapt to English football.

Santos is primarily a defensive-minded midfielder known for his tackling. One standout statistic is his ground duel success rate of 67.8%, the highest among Premier League midfielders last season.

Liam Rosenior, former Chelsea head coach who worked with Santos at Strasbourg, has highly praised his former protégé.

Rosenior said: "André (Santos) plays as if he were 32 years old. I call him the new Dunga: he is Brazilian, but his playing style is not typical of a Brazilian player. He is very intelligent, and his goal tally as well as his performance in physical duels are outstanding. His career will be brilliant."

Former Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca did not rate Santos as highly; in the first 29 matches of the previous season, he made only eight appearances and was frequently dropped for major games.

However, after Rosenior took over at Chelsea, Santos was deployed as a deep-lying midfielder alongside Ecuadorian hardman Moisés Caicedo, while Enzo Fernández moved forward to replace the often-injured Cole Palmer.

Santos is very disciplined in the No. 6 role. The young Brazilian remains calm under pressure in his own defensive zone and handles the ball comfortably.

During his early days at Vasco da Gama in Brazil, he was often seen dribbling the ball out of his own penalty area with short bursts of speed.

In fact, Santos is not only capable of playing as a deep-lying defensive midfielder but can also take on a more advanced role. He once recorded a tally of 10 goals in a single season in Ligue 1.

Although that skill has disappeared since his return to the Premier League, Manchester United has been looking for midfielders who can break through opposing defenses, and the club believes Santos has already shown that he possesses this ability.

Notably, one of Santos's main goal-scoring patterns during his loan at Strasbourg was converting set-piece opportunities by attacking the ball in the box.

This is familiar territory for Manchester United's scouts, as Casemiro, who scored nine goals last season, got most of his goals from set-piece situations.

Santos is naturally not yet on the level of Tchouaméni, but statistics show he can compare with the Real Madrid midfielder in some areas, particularly in duels and passing. Santos also has a better goal-scoring ability than Tchouaméni.

Undoubtedly, Tchouaméni is more well-rounded and mature, but he is already 26 years old, while Santos is only 22. Of course, this does not mean Santos will surpass him in the future—it can even be said that he may not reach that level—but he still has potential.

Ancelotti did not select Santos for this World Cup, but the Brazilian Football Confederation still sees him as a future pillar of the national team, considering him one of the country's most promising young players.

Furthermore, Santos's versatility can provide tactical diversity for Carrick. In this regard, Santos is similar to M. Fernandes.

Interestingly, Santos has revealed that his number one idol is Casemiro—the very player Manchester United hopes he can replace!

"My idol has always been Casemiro," Santos stated. "My idols are also Rodri and Bruno Guimarães. In other positions, I am currently very focused on Rodrygo because he is amazing."

Now that Santos has confirmed his signing with Manchester United, various analyses about him have emerged, some possibly hyping him or his potential to the skies. But Red Devils fans already know that any technical and tactical analysis, no matter how impressive it sounds, is just theory. The only true test for a new United signing is their actual performance after joining.