If you want to know about South American football, there’s only one person to turn to. Tim Vickery is the man who has seen it all on the continent for years, and he always points to the U20 Championships as the ultimate platform for the top young talents around.
We’ve seen players like Leo Messi and Neymar make their name there, but this year it’s been a box to box midfielder who has stood out. Andre Santos was signed by Chelsea in January after impressing in the Brazilian second division, and has since absolutely torn up the competition in Colombia, making him look like a great signing before he’s so much as kicked a ball for Chelsea yet.
Vickery picked him out as one of the top players in the competition, and summed him up thus in his column at ESPN:
“Recent Chelsea signing Andre Santos has done exceptionally well as a midfield powerhouse who can play out from the back, compete in the middle and break forward to score goals.”
He has an astonishing 5 goals in his 5 games, and Brazil look most likely to win the whole competition, with Santos surely in the running for any player of the tournament awards that are going.
