Gabriel Veiga Novas (; born 27 May 2002) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Saudi Pro League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

club Al-Ahli.

Club career

Celta

Veiga was born in

O Porriño O Porriño (historically known in English as ) is a municipality in Galicia, Spain in the province of Pontevedra. An industrial town, in the Vigo metropolitan area, it is an important economic dependency. One of its main industries is granite p ...

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the '' Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality wh ...

, Galicia, and was a RC Celta de Vigo youth graduate. He made his senior debut with the reserves at the age of 17 on 25 August 2019, starting in a 2–2 Segunda División B away draw against

Internacional de Madrid Internacional de Madrid, simply known as Internacional or Inter de Madrid, is a Spanish football team based in Villaviciosa de Odón, in the Community of Madrid. Founded in 2002, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games ...

. Veiga scored his first goal on 1 December 2019, netting the opener in a 1–6 loss at CD Atlético Baleares. He made his first team – and

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

– debut on 19 September of the following year, coming on as a late substitute for

Renato Tapia Renato Fabrizio Tapia Cortijo (born 28 July 1995) is a Peruvian professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Celta Vigo and the Peru national team as a defensive midfielder. Club career Youth career Born in Lima, Peru, Tapia started hi ...

in a 2–1 home win against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

. Veiga scored his first professional goal on 10 September 2022, but in a 4–1 away loss against Atlético Madrid. The following 11 January, he was promoted to the main squad, being assigned the number 24 jersey.

Al-Ahli

Despite strong interest from top European clubs including Manchester City,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, on 26 August 2023, Veiga joined

side Al-Ahli, signing a three-year deal, after activating his €40m release clause. Veiga's decision to reject interest from European clubs in favour of the lucrative contract offer from Saudi Arabia drew criticism from fans, media and fellow players for a perceived lack of sporting ambition. Real Madrid midfielder

Toni Kroos Toni Kroos (born 4 January 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid. Kroos plays mainly as a central midfielder, but has also been deployed as a deep-lying playmaker in his career. He is kn ...

labelled the move as "embarrassing".

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Individual *

La Liga Player of the Month The Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countrie ...

: February 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the RC Celta de Vigo website * * 2002 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from O Porriño Men's association football defenders La Liga players Primera Federación players Segunda División B players Saudi Pro League players RC Celta Fortuna players RC Celta de Vigo players Al-Ahli Saudi FC players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia {{Spain-footy-midfielder-stub