Peter Crouch raves about ‘fantastic’ £12m Chelsea player after his display vs Gent

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Peter Crouch singled out one Chelsea player for big praise after Thursday night’s win in Europe against Gent.

Chelsea are up and running in the Conference League group stages with a 4-2 victory tonight at home to Gent.

Enzo Maresca displayed the strength in depth within the Blues squad by making 11 changes to the starting line-up. Despite the alterations, it was another eye-catching result from Chelsea to make it five consecutive wins for the club across all competitions.

Renato Veiga, Pedro Neto, Christopher Nkunku and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were all on the scoresheet for the hosts at Stamford Bridge. Journalist Simon Johnson claimed via X that Maresca celebrated the most when Dewsbury-Hall scored, which is no surprise given the pair’s time together at Leicester City last season.

• READ MORE: Five things we learned from Chelsea’s 4-2 victory against Gent

Peter Crouch impressed by Renato Veiga

Peter Crouch really liked the individual display from Chelsea’s Renato Veiga in midweek versus Gent.

The 21-year-old left-back put in another commanding performance both on and off the ball. In particular, he scored his first goal for the club with a brilliant header in the 12th minute.

“I haven’t seen a great deal of him (Veiga), but Joe Cole was telling me what a good player he was. I saw it tonight,” Crouch said on TNT Sports 1 (10:17pm, 3 October).

“I thought he was fantastic, another fantastic player to have in the squad. A player who looked like he was enjoying himself and playing with a smile on his face.

“He finds himself in a lot of space [for his goal]… It was a fantastic header.”

A new cult hero is born

It’s pretty obvious to us that Veiga is quite quickly become a real favourite with Chelsea supporters during his debut season in English football.

The £12m summer signing (BBC) is putting in some excellent performances to win over the fanbase.

Veiga got a goal and assist against Gent as he was rewarded for the attacking intent he shows. We equally enjoy just how aggressive he is in his defensive work, too.

The Portugal international is turning out to be the ideal cover for Marc Cucurella at left-back, but he’s also shown he can cover in midfield or central defence is needed as well.

At the age of 21, Chelsea have pulled off a genius transfer with Veiga in the most recent window.