Celta Vigo President Carlos Mourino has confirmed that they will not negotiate for starlet Gabri Veiga – any side that wants him will have to stump up the €40m release clause.
Veiga is enjoying a fine breakout season, having scored 9 league goals and given four assists for Celta. The 20-year-old has only just nailed down a starting spot but has already had a big impact.
Mourino once again made it clear they were powerless to stop Veiga leaving though.
“The clauses are in place and it is one of the requirements of La Liga. We are not going to sell Gabri Veiga, but they are going to buy him from us. Nobody has to negotiate with us. We know that there are clubs that have called, but we don’t know who has spoken with Gabri Veiga. There were other teams that called us asking if we would give them a hand,” Mourino told Cadena SER, implying that some of his suitors were hoping to cut a deal.
Mourino would go on to say that he could not have put a higher release clause in Veiga’s contract because his salary would have equalled out even higher.
“We have to situate ourselves where we are at Celta and because so many players from the youth academy have helped us out of the difficult economic situation. I can’t put a €100m clause on you if I have to pay you €300m.”
The 80-year-old said he was planning on continuing for as long as he could as Celta President, having been in charge for the last eight years. He also declined to comment on his spat with Denis Suarez, now at Espanyol.
Veiga has been linked with an array of teams in the last few months, including Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle United. Real Madrid have also been linked to Veiga, but reportedly do not want to pay his entire release clause, which might imply they were the side that called Mourino.
