Manchester United midfielder Andrey SantosGetty Images

Manchester United's new signing Andrey Santos faced Wrexham in Helsinki

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter in Helsinki

Even in 2026, committing £50m to a player is a big deal for Manchester United.

There has been a subtle change, though. When they first did it, for legendary Argentina wide-man Angel di Maria in 2014, and for a good while afterwards, they were buying proven quality.

In more recent times, they have spent on potential.

It did not work with striker Rasmus Hojlund. The signs are more promising around forward Benjamin Sesko. On defender Leny Yoro, the jury is out.

The arrival of Andrey Santos fits the same 'potential' template.

While the fee to sign Santos from Chelsea is £48m, there are another £2m-worth of what are described as "achievable add-ons", which Manchester United expect to pay.

At 22, Santos clearly has plenty of development in him. However, with six full international caps for Brazil to his name, four appearances in a triumphant Club World Cup campaign for Chelsea 12 months ago and 71 top-flight games under his belt - 28 in England, the rest in France with Strasbourg - he also needs to be effective now.

So, it was instructive to see how he went about his work as United started their pre-season campaign with a 1-0 defeat in Helsinki by Wrexham, for whom Sam Smith scored the first-half winner.

United head coach Michael Carrick picked all his most experienced players to start and changed his entire team at half-time - and there is obviously lots that cannot be learned from a single 45-minute outing.

However, it was clear what Santos' task was.

Starting on the left of a two-man midfield, with Mason Mount on the right and Jack Fletcher slightly further forward, Santos was the player who always dropped back the furthest.

It didn't happen often, but Santos was not scared to take up a position akin to a quarterback in NFL as deepest player; if anything goes wrong there, you are in trouble.

In formation terms, it was the role Casemiro has vacated since his contract expired at the end of last season.

Santos is clearly more mobile than his fellow countryman. Whether he can read a game anywhere near as well is another question.

He is alert, though. At one point early in the contest, he slid in to intercept a pass going to a player he had been marking but had let run into the area without being pursued.

Largely, Santos was effective.

There were not too many moments of genuine excitement for a crowd of 20,069 at the Olympic Stadium.

But the former Vasco da Gama man provided one as he spotted danger building around the Manchester United box and sprinted across to address it. The firm block of Smith's attempted cross drew appreciative applause from the fans who were invested in the game and knew what they were watching, which is not always the case in pre-season.

There was evidence, both in the warm-ups and the match itself, that Santos can deliver accurate first-time passes in short spaces, which could allow him to both play alongside or instead of Kobbie Mainoo, who was by far United's best at doing that over the second half of last season.

One other moment was worth noting, which suggests Santos is pretty competitive.

Despite it being the first pre-season game - Wrexham were playing their second and start their competitive campaign two weeks earlier - when Smith caught him, Santos reacted, shoving the forward firmly in the chest.

When the battle starts to get fierce this season, I would not expect him to take a backward step.