Enzo Maresca is about to reap the rewards of £12m investment as Chelsea truth highlighted

Renato Veiga caught the eye for Chelsea in their 4-2 Europa Conference League win over Gent at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening

It was another busy summer at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea making some statement signings in the transfer market. Pedro Neto arrived from Wolves in a deal worth more than £50million, with Portugal teammate and former Chelsea loanee Joao Felix then joining the winger in west London ten days later after completing a permanent move from Atletico Madrid.

Perhaps the most talked about signing, though, was the arrival of Jadon Sancho from Manchester United on loan. Chelsea did finalise a number of other transfers ahead of the 2024/25 season and one at the time did go under the radar.

Renato Veiga was maybe viewed as one for the future after joining from Basel in a £12million deal but he is making a big impact in west London right now. The versatile player opened his Chelsea account on Thursday evening as he scored the team's opener in their 4-2 win over Gent.

Veiga, starting at left-back but inverting into midfield against the Belgian side, was in the right place in the 12th minute to nod home Mykhailo Mudryk's cross into the far corner of Davy Roef's goal. It was some finish as well as his header was to perfection as it nestled in the bottom corner.

The summer recruit certainly enjoyed the moment and so did his teammates. The youngster has already made a big impression on the rest of the Chelsea squad, most notably on the training pitch.

Felix recently spoke to Sky Sports ahead of the launch of FC25 and named Veiga as the hardest working player on the training pitch at Cobham. football.london understands that Chelsea have been very impressed by the player's work ethic behind the scenes and also in training.

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Veiga's work rate is also clear to see for supporters, with the player coming in for plenty of praise for his performance against Gent. Speaking to the media after the game, Enzo Maresca hailed the Lisbon-born ace.

"It's similar to Cesare Casadei in terms of physicality. He is tall, he is big," explained the Italian. "Tonight he played like an attacking midfielder, in the pocket for the first time of the season for us. He did very well. You never imagine Renato arriving in the box and scoring from the other side. That means he is doing well.

"When we needed him as a holding midfielder against Bournemouth, he was there. The other day against Brighton, as a full-back. He is versatile. Tonight he was playing like an attacking midfielder but overall I think he did well."

The Portuguese's stats from the game were rather impressive as he recorded an 88 per cent pass completion rate, he created four chances, made 14 passes into the final third, he completed both of his attempted dribbles, he was accurate with all three of his long balls, he won two of his three tackles and all six of his duels.

The player also got an assist to his name as well after teeing up Christopher Nkunku in the area for Chelsea's third goal of the night. Veiga's versatility is a huge bonus for Maresca and he is likely to reap the rewards of it over the course of the season and beyond.

Not only can he operate at left-back, the ex-Basel man can play as a centre-back or as a holding midfielder. Veiga did play in midfield in the recent win over Bournemouth and performed very well across the 90 minutes in his first Premier League start.

It probably comes as no surprise to see that Veiga is extremely comfortable in a number of different roles due to his attributes and high quality on the ball. Veiga is going to find it very tough to become a regular starter in Maresca's best Chelsea XI in the Premier League but he is already making giant strides so soon after his move from Switzerland.

Chelsea appear to have a star on their hands and the best thing is that Veiga is only going to get even better.

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