Just to quickly bore you with a background of myself, I am a Youth Football Scout who analyses upcoming talents, you can find me on X ‘@antoniomango4’ YouTube or TikTok ‘Antonio Mango’.
Now that’s out the way, let’s talk about Chelsea’s latest signing which is soon to become official, Renato Veiga.
Intro & Career to-date :
Born on 29th July 2003, Renato Veiga is the son of former Cape Verde international footballer Nélson Veiga.
Veiga began his career at the famously named Cristiano Ronaldo Academy with Sporting CP, joining them in 2010, aged 7.
After just three years with SCP, he left to sign for Real Sport Clube between 2013-19 before resigning from them back to Sporting CP, where he remained for the rest of his youth career.
He represented Sporting CP in UEFA Youth League, reaching the quarter finals before being beaten by eventual winners SB Benfica.
After climbing the last part of the youth ladder, he made his Sporting CP B debut in September 2020.
Throughout his SCP youth career, he was mainly deployed as a defensive midfielder, but whilst on International duty with Portugal he has been utilised as an left centre back.
After a really impressive 6 months, he joined Augsburg on a 12-month loan deal in January 2023 to December 2023.
However, his spell in Bundesliga didn’t go according to plan after failing to make an impression in 13 appearances as a left-back but also left centre-back, seeing his loan cut short in August.
After failing to break through into Sporting’s senior team, he moved to Swiss Super League side FC Basel in August 2023, signing a four year-contract for a reported fee of €4.6 million, with Sporting keeping a 10% sell-on clause.
Veiga made an impression at FC Basel but was hindered by two injuries, missing 7 games in total.
Positions, Profile, Attributes:
Renato Veiga is extremely versatile, he has played as a defensive midfielder, central midfielder, left centre-back and as a left back.
Veiga’s style of play is imposing and aggressive but has technical skills, presence, athleticism, work rate and versatility on the pitch.
His toolkit is really diverse, he can tackle, intercept, block, hustle, recover, pass, move well and win plenty of aerial duels.
At Basel he was generally deployed as a holding midfielder, capable of breaking up play, snapping into challenges, physically out-muscling opponents but showing moments of driving through the lines with passes.
When dribbling, it doesn’t look really aesthetically pleasing but he dribbles to his strengths. Using force and physicality to move into space, he’s at his best when space is afforded.
Utilising his long strides to gallop forwards while fighting off opponents with his strength, he has done well in crafting the art of using his body to his advantage in duels.
However, he would have to show more composure and consistency in his dribbles at Chelsea, as at times he can overdo and overthink things.
But his highlight, especially from deeper areas is his passing. At Basel, he’s been trusted with being heavily involved in the build up from deeper areas, he can switch the play and break lines with vertical passes for a defensive minded player, he has impressive vision.
He was averaging the most touches out of any other Basel player (70.4 per90). One thing I really admire about Veiga is his forward thinking mentality.
This shows in his numbers, against Midfielders in Swiss Super League. He ranks first for Long Passes, Progressive passes and passes into the final third.
Also, he sits second for forward Passes, through passes and third for short Passes, he has really benefited coming out of a skilled technical academy like Sporting CP, whilst it is important to also mention that his ball striking is crisp and clean.
I understand those numbers are in a lower developed league than Premier League, but you still have to produce the numbers. He actually scored a free kick on his debut for Basel, highlighting his ball striking technique and accuracy.
Veiga is not the player that will create a lot of chances every match, or give you much in the final third in terms of goals or assists but he is certainly a player that can support the others to create from the first build up stage.
With Veiga’s ability to hit longer range balls, this helps Chelsea and Enzo Maresca to not be one dimensional.
Out of possession, Veiga is an aggressive workhorse. He will fight for every ball and be 100% commited to every challenge. His aggressive nature and physical stature enables him to be an assertive defender, wanting to engage with opponents to prevent any dangerous attacks before they happen.
His long frame and legs enable him to make up the grounds and is surprisingly quick for a man of his size and stature.
He likes to aggressively press and hassle his opponents into a bad touch or forcing turnovers, which can be really effective for quick transition moments.
Veiga is quick once he builds up momentum, using his longer strides to retreat, make ball recoveries whilst also pressurise opponents.
The heading prowess is also a huge asset, at times last season I thought Chelsea were lacking aerial presence. Veiga is strong in the air, both defensively and offensively and his athleticism helps him to complete aerially.
In essence, he possesses attributes that work in the Premier League, his physical presence suits, he’s decent technically, good on his weaker foot, aggressive and works hard. However, development is still very much needed.
Things to improve on :
Decision making & Consistency, which can come hand in hand. In possession he takes too many unnecessary risks resulting in needlessly losing possession.
He needs to show more maturity in keeping possession and not always looking to hit longer/harder balls that won’t come off.
Another point would be learning how to challenge his aggression, which impacts his 1v1 defending and positioning too.
Aggressiveness is important in the game, however it must be done in the right way and right times. Often he’ll be too forceful, giving away free kicks or misjudging a tackle.
Being so touch tight can sometimes lead to him taking up a poor body shape, leaving him too square, allowing tricky wingers to fix him to a spot before darting away.
Being so assertive and competitive in every duel leaves space in behind, runners will exploit this weakness and will make him have to use up more energy in tracking back to make crucial ball recoveries, at times not being able to do so.
Where he fits under Enzo Maresca :
Personally, I see him fitting mostly in the left centre back position or as an inverted left back, but it definitely gives Maresca options and more depth in positions, and at times if needed he could fill in as a defensive midfielder for when you’re looking to add more physicality or mobility to see a game out.
The reason I don’t think he’s best suited as a defensive midfielder in the Premier League is he lacks consistency, and 360’ awareness.
He’s good when the play is in front of him but knowing angles and constant scanning of the pitch around him is what he struggles with.
You can get away with this in the Swiss League but it will be found out in England. Considering he’s played both regularly as a left centre back or defensive midfielder, you could have him inverting into midfield or into the left centre back role.
This role can be switched with opposite full-back. Another option would be to have a centre back move into midfield, whilst Veiga covers.
The beauty of having a versatile player like Veiga is the flexibility it offers to Enzo Maresca, who in his short stint as manager has shown himself to be a great tactician.
I can see why Enzo & Chelsea would be interested in developing a player like Veiga, because if they get it right, he could be an integral player for Chelsea in the near future.
