Manchester City have made it known that they are “willing” to trigger the release clause of Celta Vigo attacking midfielder Gabri Veiga, according to 90min.com.
The website claims that the treble winners, along with Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool are prepared to pay the €40m (£34m) required to sign the 21-year-old.
It is believed that some teams are actually prepared to go above that amount so that payments can be made in instalments, but Celta are pretty adamant that the clause must be activated so a transfer can go ahead.
Talks have already taken place with Veiga’s representative, super-agent Pini Zahavi, although it is not clear who is the favourite to secure the player’s signature at this stage.
The Spaniard is an extremely talented young player, having scored 11 goals in 36 La Liga appearances for Celtic last campaign, so it is not surprising that so many clubs are willing to pull out all of the stops to snap him up this summer.
City may only have to see off competition from two Premier League rivals, rather than three
Although 90min.com do mention Liverpool as a potential competitor, the Reds are now locked in discussions to sign Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig for €70m (£60m). If they do capture the services of the Hungarian, they will almost certainly drop out of the race for Veiga.
Newcastle were, though, also interested in Szoboszlai and if they lose out on the player (having already seen James Maddison make the switch to Tottenham), the Magpies may yet present a big threat to City’s plans.
Chelsea will likely be a fierce rival in the battle for Veiga as well. They have recently decided to sell Mason Mount to Manchester United for £55m and the Celta Vigo star has been identified as a potential replacement for the England international.
