Azpilicueta and Ivanovic would not be Chelsea legends if they had done what this 21 year old is doing | OneFootball

One move that looks almost certain to happen this month is Renato Veiga leaving Chelsea.

There are multiple reports from different sources claiming he’s closing in on a move away. Bobby Vincent’s report today describes it as a “player driven” move, which explains why it rather came from nowhere. The defender only arrived in the summer, and nobody would have foreseen him departing 6 months into a 7 year contract.

But his desire to cement his place in the Portugal team ahead of the World Cup are apparently playing an important part in this.

Still, with clubs reportedly offering £25m or more for a player we paid around £12m for in July, you can see why the move might be sanctioned.

Veiga’s sudden strong desire to leave puzzling

Renato Veiga playing for Chelsea.

We totally believe that it is a player driven move – for one, you can tell from Maresca’s quotes that he’s not delighted by the situation, and that he was caught a little off guard by it. For another, it’s just not an optimised way for Chelsea to operate. They might be happy to cash in a quick profit on Veiga, but they’d rather do it next summer when they have time and options to replace him with.

In their ideal world, they wouldn’t be doing this now.

The question then is why Veiga wants to go so badly. He seemed so genuinely and earnestly happy to have arrived at Chelsea back in the summer, and spoke very eloquently about his desire to be here at a top club.

He’s played plenty, surely at least as much as he was promised when he arrived. Imagine if Branislav Ivanovic or Cesar Azpilicueta had packed it in 6 months after arriving? They arrived under very similar circumstances as unknown players who had to stay and prove their worth – and eventually become legends.