Every international break tends to have one protagonist for each club – we just didn’t expect Renato Veiga to be Chelsea’s man of the moment this fortnight.
Going into the break there were a few players stealing the headlines – Cole Palmer of course, Christopher Nkunku playing for France and trying to earn first team minutes under Enzo Maresca, Levi Colwill and Noni Madueke trying to impress for England after impressing for Chelsea. The list goes on.
But after all that, it’s Veiga who has continued his slow rise to prominence with a really impressive performance for Portugal against Poland, holding off the in-form Robert Lewandowski with a strong showing and adding to the praise that was starting to accumulate following repeated good outings for Chelsea following a £12m summer move.
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It’s well timed – this weekend is going to be the biggest game of Veiga’s nascent Chelsea career so far. He’s been a cup regular and a sub in the Premier League – but that all changes on Sunday when he looks the most likely to take over from the suspended Marc Cucurella at left back when we take on Liverpool.
There he will be lined up against the explosive pace and power of Mo Salah on the Reds’ right.
Handling Lewandowski at centre back and then Salah from left back in the space of a week? That would really be an impressive new line to add to his CV. His versatility means he’s guaranteed a good number of games this season regardless, but could we actually see him start to put pressure on Cucurella as our first choice option this season if we see a great performance at Anfield? You couldn’t rule it out.
