Exclusive: Transfer journalist tells London World why Renato Veiga's Chelsea transfer exit collapsed

Chelsea’s recruitment policy has been questioned and scrutinised at great length despite the evidence suggesting that it is one that is beginning to bear fruit.

Identifying young talent and moving them on, sometimes without making an impact at Stamford Bridge, might not sit right with some, however, the latest transfer report justifies the stance that the Blues hierarchy have taken, even if they missed out on a substantial windfall on this occasion.

Renato Veiga sees Atletico Madrid move collapse

Fabrizio Romano reported only a matter of days ago that Renato Veiga was the subject of attention from Atletico Madrid with Chelsea’s £35m price tag almost three times as much as was paid to Basel for the Portugal international only last summer. A loan spell at Juventus where he played 33 times for the Old Lady of Italian football has been enough to catch the eye.

As with most positions in the squad, Maresca is well stocked for centre halves, at the last count he had nine at his disposal which means that a lot of them aren’t even on the bench and having to sit in the stands. With PSR an ever frustrating handbrake on clubs and how they can spend money, moving on those who the club and manager don’t have plans for in the first-team is key to keeping the books balanced.

Veiga is a fine player and one who can be proud of how he performed in one of the toughest leagues in Europe and there is a reason why the 21-year old is now the subject of big money interest.

Luca Bendoni tells London World why Veiga transfer fell through

According to Luca Bendoni of Sky Sports Italy speaking exclusively to London World though, Veiga hasn’t done quite enough for Atletico Madrid to pay what Chelsea are demanding with Diego Simeone moving quickly to sign a new target in Feyenoord’s David Hancko. The fee being some £5m less than what Veiga is on the market for with the Slovakia international considerably more experienced too.

“There was the idea for the Club World Cup of extending the loan deal of Renato to Juventus but Chelsea have been very rigid in the process of negotiations. Atletico had an offer in for Renato, they had a proposal but Chelsea immediately rejected it,” Bendoni said.

Bendoni explained that Atletico pulled out of negotiations because they had a set budget to spend on a new centre-half and the gap between what Chelsea wanted and what they were willing to spend was too big with the Club World Cup champions refusing to budge on a fee. The budget, the Italian journalist went on to clarify, is what the Spaniards are paying Feyenoord for Hancko.

“Chelsea were very rigid in the negotiations, they didn’t want to sell for anything less than their own idea, this is around €40m (£35m) and this is why the deal collapsed. As a result, Atletico went fast on Hancko and in, like, three hours, they agreed on a deal and announced it, as simple as that.”