Chelsea sales reach £250m as Veiga fee is agreed

Renato Veiga made just one Premier League start for Chelsea

Chelsea have agreed to sell defender Renato Veiga to Villarreal for a fee rising to £26m - taking total player sales to over £250m for the Blues this summer.

Veiga, 22, is expected to sign a seven-year contract and complete a medical in Spain on Thursday after the Spanish club agreed to pay close to their transfer record.

The Portugal international was deemed surplus to requirements by manager Enzo Maresca and was training in the so-called 'bomb squad' - a group of senior players away from the first team - having asked to play at centre-back instead of left-back midway through last season.

Chelsea will make a substantial profit on Veiga, who played 18 times for the club after joining from FC Basel in 2024 for £12m.

Veiga spent part of the season on loan at Juventus, while Atletico Madrid showed an interest earlier in the transfer window.

The move will see Chelsea raise an estimated £251.7m from selling 11 players, to balance £277m of spending on nine new players in a busy summer of transfers.

The biggest sales have been Noni Madueke's move to Arsenal for an initial £48m, Joao Felix's deal with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr for a fee rising to £43.7m and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall joining Everton in a £28m deal.

Chelsea remain interested in adding Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho and RB Leipzig midfielder Xavi Simons before the transfer window closes on 1 September.

They are also trying to sell additional players, including Nicolas Jackson, Christopher Nkunku, Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell and Axel Disasi.