Copy Tottenham, paste Chelsea: Blues to recall Andrey Santos from Forest loan in January

Just like their city rival Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea are considering to recall their promising player from a season-long loan.

According to The Athletic, the West London side can end Andrey Santos' loan at Nottingham Forest in January. The Blues could activate a break clause in the deal with the Tricky Trees for the 19-year-old defensive midfielder.

Forest have not been officially notified by Chelsea about any intention to recall Santos, but are aware his opportunities have been limited since his arrival in August.

Injury-torn Spurs turn to their Congolese Bundesliga-based loanee

Santos has only made one substitute appearance in the Premier League for Forest, as well as playing 90 minutes in their Carabao Cup second-round defeat against Burnley in August.

Forest head coach Steve Cooper has had conversations with Chelsea about Santos' game time and indicated his belief that the Brazilian will get an opportunity to play during the season.

Should Santos return to the Chelsea first team in January, he will join Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Conor Gallagher, Lesley Ugochukwu and Romeo Lavia as central midfield options for head coach Mauricio Pochettino.

Suppose Chelsea were to send Santos out again. In that case, they are, as it stands, restricted to domestic destinations as they already have a maximum of seven players out on international loans - Gabriel Slonina at Eupen, David Fofana at Union Berlin, Angelo Gabriel at Strasbourg, Diego Moreira at Lyon, Hakim Ziyech at Galatasaray, Kepa Arrizabalaga at Real Madrid and Romelu Lukaku at Roma.

Poch begs Chelsea fans to 'trust the process' as torrid Blues await former EPL champion in League Cup

Santos signed for Chelsea from Brazilian side Vasco de Gama in January for around £18 million, then rejoined them on loan in March. He captained Brazil at the Under-20 World Cup earlier this year before returning to Chelsea and impressing during their U.S. pre-season tour. Pochettino named Santos on the bench for their opening-day draw against Liverpool, but the Brazilian did not feature in either of the following two squads before joining Forest on August 25.