Newcastle United are admirers of Gabri Veiga but FIFA legislation means the Premier League giants would be unable to sign the £35 million Al-Ahli ace during the January transfer window.
Like Ruben Neves, another of Newcastle United’s potential Sandro Tonali replacements, Gabri Veiga is not exactly making plans to spend the entirety of his career in the Middle East.
Neves, just a few months after leaving Wolves for Al-Hilal, is reportedly open to a Premier League return in the winter, Newcastle looking at the Portuguese playmaker after losing their £60 million record to a ten-month ban.
Newcastle United cannot sign Gabri Veiga in January
Veiga, a player the Magpies looked at extensively before his big-money move to Al-Ahli, is another potential Tonali successor. Or, at least, he would have been.
As pointed out by Tuttomercatoweb, Veiga will be prohibited from making a switch to St James’ Park after Christmas. That is because, under FIFA rules, a player is only allowed to represent three different clubs in the same season, unless at least one of those plays in a league operating on an alternative calendar.
The Saudi Pro League, however, runs from August to May. Just like the English Premier League.
As such, any hopes Veiga may have had of joining Newcastle – in January anyway – have already been ki-boshed by that 17 minute cameo for Celta Vigo against Osasuna on the opening day of the La Liga season.
There is, however, nothing to stop Ruben Neves making the switch. He left for Saudi before the current Premier League campaign kicked off in August.
Ruben Neves open to Newcastle move
Veiga has endured a difficult time of it at Al-Ahli so far, failing to score and providing only one assist after negotiations over a move to Italian champions Napoli collapsed.
“The future? You never know how much a league like this can grow. You never know what can happen,” Veiga says, via Tuttomercatoweb. “But, one day, my motivation could be to play in the Champions League, win titles in Europe.”
Veiga was the top-scoring midfielder in Spain’s top-flight in 2022/23 with 11 from 36 matches.
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