Real Madrid News
Real Madrid scouting 20-year-old La Liga midfielder, Premier League teams also interested
According to a report published by Fabrizio Romano, Real Madrid are among teams interested and keeping tabs on Celta Vigo midfielder Gabri Veiga. They have sent their scouts to follow Veiga multiple times.
The Spaniard has also attracted interest from Premier League sides, who have also been scouting the player. He has a release clause in his contract worth €40 million.
Primarily an attacking midfielder, Veiga has scored nine goals in La Liga this season for Celta, while also contributing through three assists.
He was on target as recently as yesterday as Vigo clocked a 1-3 away win against Espanyol to go 9th in the the table.
Veiga can be speculated to be one of the options Madrid are considering as a plan B for Jude Bellingham, who happens to be their number one target.
The Spanish champions face a ton of competition for Bellingham, though, with the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, and Manchester United interested in signing him in the summer.
With so many teams looking to secure his signature, the Englishman’s reported price tag could rise up to nearly €150 million.
However, reports earlier this week confirmed that Madrid’s interest in Veiga is concrete and not dependent on their pursuit of Bellingham. In fact, they see the 20-year-old as one of the foundation pieces for the future.
Further, with Dani Ceballos, Toni Kroos, and Luka Modric’s contract expiring in the summer, Madrid could be looking to acquire Veiga to replace one of the three.
Right now, Ceballos looks the most likely to leave Santiago Bernabeu on a Bosman move, with the player claiming that he wants to enjoy football.
Either way, if rumours are to believed, Madrid will first have to push Arsenal out of the way in their chase for Veiga, who seem to be the youngster’s dream club. Manchester City and Liverpool are also reportedly keen.
In less than two weeks, Real Madrid will play hosts to Premier League giants Chelsea in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie at the Santiago Bernabeu.
It is a repeat of last season’s Champions League quarter-final, with the change being that the first leg was played at Stamford Bridge back then, which Real Madrid won triumphantly.
So, even though they lost the second leg 3-2, Los Merengues progressed on aggregate. At one point in the second leg, Real Madrid were 3-0 down and looked to be crashing out of the tournament.
But, that is not how the match played out as Luka Modric produced a moment of magic, sending in a stunning outside-of-the-boot pass for Rodrygo to guide home. That forced the match into extra time and Karim Benzema then scored to seal an aggregate win for his team.
Mateo Kovacic, a former Real Madrid midfielder, was on the losing side with Chelsea on that fateful night. And the Croatian has now spoken to Sportske Novosti, about that moment of magic from Modric last year as well as the prospect of facing Real Madrid again.
“We were good against Real Madrid last year, especially in Madrid. Then Modrić invented that trivela assist for Rodrygo… We have to be at 120% against them. They immediately punish every minor mistake. Although I repeat, we are also a difficult opponent for them, we showed it,“ Kovacic said.
On the prospect of facing his close friend and national teammate Modric, Kovacic added: “[laughs] how the draw arranges it… It won’t be easy for us because Real Madrid is always the most dangerous team in the Champions League.”
“It’s a strange feeling to have Modric as a rival. There were hard fouls last year because neither he nor I pull back. We will fight for sure. I play on the left, he’s on the right, we will see who wants what. But I wouldn’t like to hurt him,” he added.
Chelsea had met Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League during the 2020/21 campaign as well and had managed to eliminate them at the semi-final stages on their way to winning the title.
While the Blues have not been in the best of form this season, they have the star power and quality in their ranks to hurt Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti’s men must be at their best to get through to the next round.
