There are not many surprises left in football these days. It’s rare that a player signs for a top club these days without Fabrizio Romano having broke the news 2 months before, and having Tweeted out every last detail of the move long before it happens.
So Renato Veiga’s transfer to Chelsea was a rarity – OK, Romano still broke the news, but it was already a done deal, just pending an announcement.
Veiga is a relatively unknown player by the standards of those who Chelsea sign, but he had a solid reputation as a youngster. Liam Twomey’s piece in the Athletic today sees him speak to a Sporting B coach who helped developed the 20 year old. He was full of fascinating insight on a player we still want to know more about.
It’s not all good – in fact, the focus really seemed to be on some of the negatives of his ultra-competitive personality. His time keeping when on loan at Augsburg was an issue, his loan there was terminated early.
Things even sounded bad at Basel, where he went next:
“His body language got worse [as the team dropped down the table], he wasn’t positive, and he didn’t play that well anymore. He was complaining at team-mates, at the coach, at the referee — everybody,” a journalist quoted by Twomey explained.
A fascinating mystery starts to be solved
Veiga is already out on the tour with his new teammates, and will play in his second friendly game for the club tonight when we take on Celtic. Bit by bit the mystery is being sold – but we feel there could still be a lot more to come from him. His versatility could mean a regular role as a sub and a rotation option in several positions for Enzo Maresca this season.
