Tottenham’s Alejo Veliz has revealed that Real Madrid have been interested in him twice, but “time will tell” whether he will stay with his current team.
Spurs signed Veliz from Rosario Central for £13 million in the summer. It’s been a couple of very good seasons for the youngster, scoring six goals in the Liga Profesional in 2022 and eleven in 2023.
With Harry Kane leaving through Tottenham’s doors for Bayern Munich at the same time as joining the club, the Argentine may have expected to play more regularly than he did in the first half of the season.
In reality, Veliz only played eight times in the Premier League – each time from the bench – and the longest he was on the pitch was 20 minutes, when he scored a consolation goal in the 4-2 defeat against Brighton.
Tottenham clearly saw and still sees in him a very good player and signed him.
However, they loaned the 20-year-old Veliz to Sevilla, who are apparently still playing at a good level in La Liga, as they thought he would have few chances this season.
His future could have turned out very differently before he joined Tottenham.
Indeed, Veliz confirmed that Real Madrid pursued him before he moved to north London, but he refused to leave.
Veliz was twice wanted by Real Madrid:
“Yes, it appeared in the press and some time ago my agent told me about Real Madrid’s interest, but nothing materialised,” Veliz told AS.
“It was during the South American Under-20 Championship, I hadn’t been in the first team for a long time and I wanted to continue playing for Rosario. Even after the U20 World Cup.
“But I’m a calm person, I accept things with patience and I have a lot of faith in God, he is guiding me on my path and he will give me the best.”
The South American Under-20 Championship took place in January 2023 and the World Cup in May – at the latter, Veliz scored three goals before Argentina were knocked out in the round of 16.
With nothing coming of Real’s interest, Tottenham swooped soon after, then loaned the striker to Sevilla, who are happy with his “desire”, even though he hasn’t played more than four minutes yet.
Veliz does not know what his future will be:
Veliz does not know where he will stay after this season: his initial loan period is due to end in the summer, and Veliz does not know where he will end up.
“I don’t know what will happen [in the summer]. If I stay, time will tell. For a start, Sevilla and its fans must be happy with me because I am happy to come here and I hope a lot of good things will happen,” Veliz added.
Given the promise Veliz has shown, a permanent transfer seems highly unlikely – if he impresses on loan, Tottenham may decide he has more chance of getting minutes in north London next season.
If they don’t see enough of him in that period, they’ll probably loan him out again to encourage him to find form and play at a good level.
Veliz would seem open to a return to Sevilla if that happened, but his performances this season will obviously decide whether that’s what they want or not.