Atletico Madrid is on the market for a new central defender, with new goals set up after ending their interest in the Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur, who had been their priority for the position.
So far, Athleti Alex Baena, Matteo Rugeri, Thiago Almada and Johnny Cardoso has signed, and while movements are being made for breathola lookman to complete their attacking options, the priority of the club is to add a new center-back to join Robin Lezing.
After walking away from the Romero deal, Athleti continued to sniff in the Premier League, with an interest registered in Chelsea's Renato Veiga, who was on loan at Juventus last season. And they have now taken the next step in attempts to sign the 21-year-old, who played for Portugal five times.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano, Atleti started conversations with the representatives of Veiga, and they have been informed that the defender would be open to making the switch to the Riyadhair Metropolitano.
Atleti is preparing to promote their interest in Veiga after receiving this positive response, but it will not be easy to sign it this summer. Chelsea asks for a package worth at least € 40 million to make him leave, which would be a considerable profit for them after he was brought in from FC Basel in 2024 for just € 14 million.
So far, Atleti has spent more than € 120 million on signing Baena, Ruggeri, Almada and Ruggeri, with around € 18 million that is earned back to the sale of Rodrigo Riquelme (against real betis) and Angel Correa (against Tigres). It will be interesting to see if they have the money available to follow an agreement with Chelsea for Veiga, which could be a very smart signature.