In the summer window, Espanyol signed Alejo Véliz on a loan deal from Tottenham Hotspur.
Speaking to La Grada Ràdio, the striker has revealed Espanyol manager Manolo González was key in his decision to join the La Liga side.
The 20-year-old joined Tottenham from Rosario Central in 2023. He didn’t enjoy regular minutes under Ange Postecoglou in the first half of the 2023/24 season.
To put it in context, Véliz was restricted to 45 minutes from eight league games at Spurs. In search of more game time, Tottenham allowed him to join Sevilla on a loan deal in January. He was then limited to 31 minutes from six matches.
The Argentina U21 international knew Postecoglou wouldn’t include him in his plans at the north London club.
He wasn’t pleased with his spell at Sevilla and was keen to avoid repeating it again this season. Véliz revealed this when asked why he decided to join Espanyol.
“The main reason why I am here is González. I came from a loan at Sevilla where I didn’t have the opportunity to contribute or show myself, I had stressed to my agent that it was a very important step for me because personally and psychologically I wasn’t having a good time, we could not fall lower than what we were,” he said.
“I told my representative that a coach should say that he wanted me on his team. As soon as Espanyol came out, two days later the coach called me, I was with Tottenham in Japan for the pre-season, he told me that he had seen me a lot and that I was the player he wanted, that he saw a very good future in me. I told my girlfriend about it and she told me it was what we were looking for. When I ended the call, I contacted my agent and insisted, ‘it has to be here’.”
The Tottenham owned player has scored a goal in four matches for the Spanish club. He’s set his sights on having a successful loan spell with the La Liga side this season.
When asked if he can have a breakthrough season at Espanyol, Véliz explained: “I hope so, I hope it can be my best year and give a lot of joy to the club, I have very good expectations and with hard work things happen.
“I have my personal objectives but we have to try to achieve all the objectives of the group. It could be a good year, hopefully it will give us another push. We know that there are many things to improve and others that we want to continue to maintain.”
