Harry Maguire has revealed that Manchester United’s new signing Andrej Santos has already caused controversy with his behavior in training with the club. The Brazilian replaced Casemiro on a five-year contract after joining from Chelsea for £48m.
Santos is officially the first signing of the Michael Carrick era and has already featured for the club, making his appearance in last week’s friendly against Wrexham. Maguire, who captained the team and played alongside Santos, admitted that he and his teammates were already attracted to the 22-year-old during training sessions.
“Andrei played yesterday, he really impressed us in the first week and I think we signed two great players there,” he told Sky Sports Golf, also referring to Youri Tielemans.
Carrick similarly praised Santos ahead of his first outing with United, adding: “He’s settled in really well and he’s a great character. He’s settled in quickly and you can see he’s excited to be here.”
Santos was substituted at half-time and watched from the sidelines as United lost 1-0 against Wrexham. Despite the disappointing result, Carrick had a lot to say about Santos’ early performance.
He said, “There were a lot of little positives from this game. I thought Andrei and Mason (Mount) did some really good things and connected really well. I saw some positives there.”
“At the top end of the pitch, even though it’s been a week, those sharp little movements and bright moments that you’re looking for will come as you go through a few weeks of training and that’s what it is. There were good signs from Andrei in the first game. He’s finding his rhythm and feeling again, so it was good to see him in the red shirt.”
Santos openly expressed his eagerness to give his all and to work with his new teammates.
“I can also learn a lot from Bruno (Fernandes), so I’m really looking forward to playing with my teammates: Bruno, Matheus (Cunha), Koby (Mainou), Amad, Diogo (Dalot), Harry (Maguire) and everyone.”
