Liam Rosenior evalutes Andrey Santos’ Strasbourg captaincy debut

Andrey Santos (20), in the absence of usual captain Habib Diarra, wore the captain’s armband for the first time for RC Strasbourg Alsace in their 2-1 defeat to OGC Nice on Sunday night. 

Santos, who joined on loan from partner club Chelsea last winter, quickly made an impression at Strasbourg and saw his loan in Alsace extended over the summer. His prominence in this side was reflected in Liam Rosenior’s decision to hand him the armband in Diarra’s absence, despite the presence of Ismaël Doukouré most notably – a player who has previously captained Les Alsaciens. 

Despite the defeat, Rosenior was happy with the performance of his captain on the night. “He was great. He constantly shows professionalism every day in his work, he constantly wants to improve and constantly trains at 100%. There were other players that had a worthy cause to be captain but I felt that Andrey was the right choice. I felt that he didn’t do the armband any disservice at all,” said the Englishman, in response to a question posed by Get French Football News.

In defeat, it was an accomplished performance from Santos, who won 13 of his 14 duels, made nine tackles, comfortably more than any other player, and made three key passes. A key player for Strasbourg, the Chelsea loanee’s stature is growing in France. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from Nice