Analysing Gabri Veiga – Mauricio Pochettino’s potential new weapon

Gabriel Veiga ended the 22/23 La Liga season with 11 goals and 4 assists in 36 appearances from midfield. To put that into perspective, Kai Havertz finished as our top scorer with 7 goals, Raheem Sterling with 6, and Joao Felix with 4. Conor Gallagher and Mason Mount were Chelsea’s highest-scoring midfielders with 3 goals each. Goals win games, we obviously didn’t score enough last season, and funnily enough, we didn’t win enough games as a result.

Veiga’s ball-carrying is one of his biggest weapons. His ability to evade the press and burst away from the opposition is reminiscent of Kovacic. What Veiga has over Kovacic is increased athleticism and more intention of hurting a defence. The 21-year-old attacks the heart of the opposition, he’s always looking to penetrate in the final third, takes risks on the ball, and plays incisive passes – this is one of the reasons his passing stats aren’t as amazing as you some of the stats people on Twitter like.

He is a volume shooter, whether that be efforts from long range or in and around the penalty area. He is an excellent ball striker and is comfortable shooting off either foot. Veiga possesses a similar technical level of security to Kovacic and is generally smooth on the ball with his close-control dribbling, he’s also very good at receiving on the half turn like Mason Mount.

I expect Veiga to draw plenty of cynical fouls from the opposition as a result if he signs for Chelsea. The Spaniard’s off-ball movement in forward areas is great, he makes runs beyond the CF and is a player that can link up well with his teammates in combination plays and provide width in attacks. Furthermore, he is comfortable playing off that right-hand side in attack too, as Eriksen was under Pochettino.

What Pochettino will also like about Veiga is the fact that he is a willing presser and shows good levels of anticipation when cutting out forward passes from the opposition. Veiga’s ability to find space in and around the penalty box, as well as on the edge for cutbacks, his ability to crash the box and willingness to run beyond, will lead him to plenty of opportunities to score. If he isn’t starting, he’ll be a valuable asset to bring off the bench too if Chelsea need a goal late on, potentially being a weapon for Pochettino.

As I mentioned before, his passing stats aren’t as impressive as others but when he’s on the ball he’s looking to make something happen – whether that’s dribbling at a defence or playing a forward pass. These forward passes don’t always come off and his care and precision of pass is certainly something that can be worked on. He isn’t a chance creating magnet from deeper areas like Enzo Fernandez. Veiga will thrive as an advanced 8/10/SS.

I understand people want creativity from a likely back up 10 and lots of “pretty play” but when you have players like Enzo/Caicedo who can spot a pass from deeper areas and attacking full-backs like Chilwell/Hall/Reece James/Gusto, you will need box threats and people who will get on the end of chances. I’m assuming Gabri Veiga would be brought in to also help capitalise on these chances.

Gabri Veiga effectively single-handedly saved his boyhood club Celta Vigo from relegation in the season just gone at the age of 21. He grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and scored 2 goals on the final day of the season to beat Barcelona, that is the definition of putting your club on your back and taking ownership.

This performance spoke volumes about Veiga’s mentality already at such a young age. You can’t put a price on intangibles like these and in my opinion, he’d be a fantastic addition to this exciting and high-potential Chelsea squad. With a release clause of £34m, I’d say it will turn out to be excellent value for money.