In the middle of last month, reports emerged that Brazilian side Bahia were interested in signing Tottenham Hotspur striker Alejo Veliz, who is currently on loan back at his first club Rosario Central in Argentina. The report stated that Baha were looking at a January transfer with a “quite high” transfer fee, but the window came and went without the transfer going through.
But it looks like it WILL go through, just not until this summer. Fabrizio Romano is reporting now that a full agreement has been reached with Tottenham for a summer sale of Veliz to Bahia, effective in June. The transfer fee is reportedly €9m (£7.8m).
That’s actually a decent fee for a player who obviously has no future at Tottenham Hotspur. Spurs reportedly spent £9m (with escalators potentially rising to £13m) to purchase him from Rosario Central 2023 and he did get a few matches in his first season at the club, but has spent the past season on loan at Sevilla, Espanyol, and back at Rosario Central with varying degrees of success. This season, he has 6 goals in 18 appearances in Argentina, which is apparently enough for Bahia to make a move.
£7.8m is actually a pretty good return on investment, especially if the fee they actually paid to Rosario Central is closer to the £9m than the £13m; I don’t know what the triggers were for escalators but I find it hard to believe many were actually met, which probably makes €7.8m a slight profit after considering amortization of his fee. Not too shabby, I guess.
Romano hints that the January move didn’t pan out because Veliz asked to stay at Rosario Central until the end of the season, and wanted to make the move in summer. So this is a pre-agreement, likely made official on June 1. Sounds fine by me.