Veiga, who is currently the chairman of
English League One side, Swindon Town has revealed how former Real
Madrid president Florentino Pérez managed to pull off one of the
biggest shocks in transfer history by snapping up Luis Figo from
Barcelona for €65 million.
Accoring to Sport, Veiga
disclosed that he had signed a pre-agreement with Pérez, who was
running against Lorenzo Sanz for the club’s presidency then, to
bring Figo to the Bernabéu.
He then claimed that the main reason he signed
the document was to pressure Barcelona
into accepting a contract improvement for the
player, in addition to pocketing a handsome €3 million in
commission.
What Veiga didn’t know at the time – other than
the fact that Lorenzo Sanz would lose the elections and hand the
reigns over to Pérez – was that as per the signed agreement, there
was a €30 million exit fee attached should Veiga or Figo
himself break the contract to join Los Blancos.
With Veiga trapped between a rock and a hard
place, Figo then asked the agent: “What do we do now?” to which
Veiga replied, “There are three options. One, you remain at Barça
and pay the €30 million which you do not have, two, you don’t pay
them and I go to jail, or three, you go to Real Madrid.”
Veiga believes that it is a similar tactic that
current president Ramón Calderón is using to snatch Cristiano
Ronaldo from Manchester United; making the player sign a deal with
Los Merengues that includes a penalty clause that could cost the
Portuguese millions should he break his end of the deal.
