Why Chelsea want to complete £12m Renato Veiga transfer amid Enzo Maresca plans

FC Basel star Renato Veiga is set to become the sixth player to join Chelsea in the summer transfer window after the two clubs came to a £12m agreement for the defender.

The 20-year-old is expected to sign a long-term contract that will see him stay at Stamford Bridge until 2032, a business tactic that has been employed time and time again since the arrival of American owner Todd Boehly and his Clearlake consortium.

With the medical already scheduled to take place in London, Veiga is expected to join Tosin Adarabioyo, Estevao Willian, Marc Guiu, Omari Kellyman and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall as stars that have signed under Enzo Maresca so far this summer - although Estevao won't join the club for another year.

There's also said to be no sell-on clause in the agreement, meaning the Blues will get 100% of the fee if they're ever to sell the star in the future who is believed to be the perfect fit for Maresca's style of play which he'll try to impose quickly on Chelsea after taking over from Mauricio Pochettino over the summer.

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Renato Veiga profiled

Having risen through the youth ranks at Sporting and Real Sport Clube in Portugal, Veiga made his debut for Sporting's B team in September 2020, where he notched four goals in 31 appearances across two seasons.

At the end of the January transfer window last year, he secured a year-long loan move to Bundesliga side FC Augsburg, where he only made 13 appearances in four months before the German outfit cut the loan short. It meant a return to Sporting although he swiftly found a move away from Portugal, now landing in Switzerland for Basel.

The £3.9m transfer fee looked well-placed ahead of Veiga's first full campaign in top flight football, as he notched another two goals and provided one assist in 26 appearances in all competitions last season, and despite his four-year contract with the Swiss Super League side, he looks certain to join Chelsea this summer.

He's also played for Portugal's Under-19s, Under-20s and Under-21s over the last three years, having scored his only international goal in the nation's 6-1 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifying win over Belarus Under-21s.

Why Chelsea are signing Veiga

With Dewsbury-Hall having been touted as a player that fits into Maresca's system that Chelsea have specifically targeted because the Italian knows what he's getting from prior experience, Veiga will fit into a similar vein.

Although him and Maresca have never worked together, the young Portuguese international is someone who will fit into his style - being able to play as an inverted full-back in order to push up into a defensive midfield role as Chelsea roam the pitch with possession.

Supporters may be reminded of Marc Cucurella's similar role towards the end of Mauricio Pochettino's stint as Blues boss last year, a job that kept him in the squad and proved he could be vital to Spain's Euro 2024 success having started all but one match after they reached next week's semi-finals.

His 6ft 3in (190cm) frame also means he offers more vertically than the likes of Cucurella and prior target Riccardo Calafiori who looks set to sign for rivals Arsenal. Also able to play centre-back and slot into central midfield, his versatility will be so useful in Maresca's first season as a Premier League manager, especially given the medical issues Chelsea suffered last season.

Finally, Chelsea will no doubt see him as a brilliantly cheap prospect - something they've not become known for going after in recent seasons. Splashing out has been the name of the game at Stamford Bridge since the introduction of Boehly and the '£1 billion' mark gets thrown around a lot but this summer has looked like the beginning of a slightly withheld attack on the market, with the Blues yet to spend more than £30m on a player.