From nowhere summer signing Renato Veiga is being linked with a potential move to Wolves, with a few other Premier League teams mentioned too.
It’s an odd one – he only arrived 6 months ago, and while he hasn’t played much, he’s been ever present in our B team, and that sort of versatile backup role is just what he was brought in for.
We’d guess that the connection to Wolves is because of their strong Portuguese contingent. They’ve just appointed a Portuguese coach, have a bunch of Portuguese players in the squad, and are seemingly somewhat controlled by Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes.
Meanwhile Veiga, who came through the Sporting academy, has made himself into a regular for the Portugal national team since joining Chelsea.
Quick flip on Veiga a smart move – but would leave Chelsea short at left back
Veiga has been a solid backup in the Conference League for us, but frankly that’s against some of the weakest opposition we’ll ever play again. And we really hope next year we’re up against serious teams in the Champions League.
Given we got Veiga for relatively cheap last summer – just £12m from Basel – we can certainly imagine that the sporting directors would happily cash in if they can make a significant profit. It would leave us short a left back for the rest of the season – but there are always new bargains out there to be found.
It will all depend on what some of these desperate relegation battlers are willing to pay us. Given the cost of this sort of transaction, it’s hard to see anything less than £20m being worthwhile for Chelsea.
As January rolls on, we expect much more concrete news on this one.
