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Chelsea have confirmed the permanent transfer of defender Renato Veiga to Villarreal. The Portugal international only joined Enzo Maresca's squad last summer but has earned the club a healthy proft.
Veiga was brought in for under £15million last year and has now been sold for almost double that, at £26million. He went on loan for the second half of last season to Juventus in a bid to play more minutes at centre-back.
Jorrel Hato has been brought in from Ajax for £37million and has already replaced Veiga in the team as a versatile left-sided player. Veiga has established himself in the Portugal national team but did not face a future at Stamford Bridge beyond the end of last summer.
He is now the most expensive signing in Villarreal's histoy after completing a move to Spain. Veiga had been expected to join Atletico Madrid earlier this year but the deal fell through.
Despite being a part of Maresca's preferred XI for the Conference League group stage, Veiga was not handed many Premier League opportunities and instead got shifted into midfield. He arrived from Basel having spent time on loan at Augsburg in Germany previously.
Veiga was never seen as an alternative to Levi Colwill after his knee injury and ACL surgery left a hole in defence for what is expected to be most of the season. Chelsea have tuned to Trevoh Chalobah and Tosin Adarabioyo as makeshift options with Benoit Badiashile the most natural replacement.
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Like Axel Disasi, who was shipped out in January on loan as well, Veiga was not handed a squad number at Chelsea for the season with the plan always to sell him. The announcement of his exit comes on the afternoon that Chelsea visit West Ham in their second Premier League game of the season.
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