Amid stupefaction, dismay, and debate over whether a 21-year-old should take such steps in his professional career, Gabri Veiga leaves for Jeddah, an Arab city on the shores of the Red Sea and a stone’s throw from Mecca. There he joined the ranks of Al-Ahli with a contract that binds him for the next three seasons to one of the giants of the amazing competition in Saudi Arabia, who confirmed the signing this Saturday with a video recorded with the player in Paris, where he passed a medical examination this Friday.
Gone is Celta, a club that Veiga joined when he was 11 years old and that now transfers him for a figure close to 40 million euros that marked his termination clause. That the exit is to Arabia activates the alarms about the ability of petrodollars to capture a profile of a developing footballer that they had not yet targeted. Until now the youngest footballer for whom a transfer had been paid (30 million euros) this summer was the Brazilian central defender Roger Ibañez, 24 years old, but with a career already in Fluminense, Atalanta and Roma. He will be Veiga’s teammate at Al-Ahli, one of the four teams that are 75% owned by the Saudi public investment fund, which also owns the Super League of golf that has shaken the foundations of that sport.
“It is a special day, hard and difficult, but also exciting,” explains the player in a statement in which he slips that he hopes that the step of moving to Arabia will help him “grow and improve.” His salary in Vigo was 400,000 euros per year. In Arabia he will pocket almost 40 million euros in three years, an average of 13 million per season. The economic jump and the reflection of Rafa Benítez, his last coach in Vigo, warns about the inability of most European clubs to retain their emerging stars if an Arab club sets its sights on them. “He and his family change their lives. And then, due to his age, he can play again in competitive leagues, although the Arab one is on the way to being a very competitive league ”. The doors of the Saudi Pro League for younger players like Veiga have been thrown open.
Veiga leaves Spanish football after participating in just one full season at Celta, with whom he debuted his first-team number last January and closed the campaign with 11 goals in 36 games before joining the European sub-champion U21 team , in which he could not settle as a starter. By then it was already known that he was going to leave Vigo. There were no doubts when last April, after attending offers from the most powerful representation agencies on the planet, he ended up opting for the one directed by veteran Pini Zahevi. At that time he began an auction that declined after his irregular participation with the sub21, but which was reactivated in recent weeks with an offer from Naples. Celta reached an agreement with the Italian club, with which Veiga would be able to debut in the Champions League and would earn 2.2 million per season. But the player’s agents did not close the deal.
Veiga had signed a contract with Celta in May 2022, just after appearing in the first team. Until then his salary with the subsidiary was around 50,000 euros per year. Now, fifteen months later, he will multiply his income by 250. His transfer is the most expensive in the history of the centenary club from Vigo, which he now hopes to strengthen its squad with at least three new reinforcements.
Al-Ahli is an Arab soccer giant who has just risen from the second tier, where he had fallen for the first time in its history. To avoid new upsets, he has paid more than 180 million euros in transfers so far this summer to recruit players like Mahrez (with a salary of 40 million euros a year), Kessie (20), Firmino (17), Mendy (12), Saint-Maximin (12), Demiral (10), Ibañez (8) and now Gabri Veiga.
The other three clubs financed with state money still have an open checkbook. Al-Ittihad has invested 75 million euros and incorporated Benzema and Kanté with the letter of freedom in hand. Al-Nassr has just paid Porto 60 million for midfielder Otávio. And Al-Hilal is, after Chelsea, the club that has spent the most this summer: 353 million after paying PSG 90 for Neymar. The festival is not over: the market in the Saudi league does not close until September 30.
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