It is a move that has come right out of the blue, if you will. And perhaps it is one that not many had expected to happen, especially this soon.

Yes, there had been rumours of there being interest in Andrey Santos from Manchester United. That has been there going back to last winter.

Yet, it was hard to foresee the Old Trafford outfit moving this quickly and getting a deal done. 

According to Fabrizio Romano, Santos to Manchester United is 'here we go'. The deal is in place, with a medical booked for the next 24 hours for the Brazilian midfielder.

Manchester United are set to pay £50 million, matching the fee asked by Chelsea, plus a 10% sell-on clause. A contract until June 2031 is set to be signed tomorrow.

Is this another sign that Chelsea will need to part ways with players this summer, if they want to sign some.

We have already seen them sanction the exits of Marc Cucurella to Real Madrid and Tyrique George to Everton. Now, Santos is set to move to Manchester United.

The situation is far from ideal, that is for sure. Ideally, you would have wanted to keep Cucurella, one of the few players who had proven experience and world-class ability when on form.

On the other hand, one would also imagine that Chelsea would have liked to give Santos more of a chance to prove himself at Stamford Bridge.

It was not too long ago that Santos was being touted as the future of the Chelsea midfield. He had enjoyed a terrific season on loan at Strasbourg and was one of the best midfielders in Ligue 1.

Santos' debut campaign in Chelsea colours did not go according to plan though. He was a bit-part player under Enzo Maresca.

When Maresca left and Liam Rosenior replaced him, it was thought that it would do wonders for Santos.

After all, it had been under the management of Rosenior that he had established himself as one of the best midfielders in Ligue 1 the previous season. But unfortunately, there was no real bump in form.

Santos remained a steady presence in the middle of the park but never really showed enough to suggest he would develop into a starter.

This £50 million move represents a significant transfer profit for Chelsea. It is easy to see why they would have taken it.

That being said, there is also a genuine chance that Santos could develop into a quality midfielder at Manchester United, which might cause Chelsea to regret this decision in the future.

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