Chelsea given major hope in the pursuit of Portuguese forward Joao Felix
According to Football. London, Chelsea have been handed a significant boost in their pursuit of Portuguese forward Joao Felix with Atletico Madrid CEO Gil Marin revealing that the talented attacker might be sold due to his strained relationship with head coach Diego Simeone.
Felix has been having a torrid time at Atletico due to his indifference with the manager and has not been able to realise his true potential. Despite showing flashes of his abilities in an Atletico shirt many a time, Felix hasn’t really been given a constant chance to show his worth.
The 23-year-old joined Atletico Madrid from Benfica in 2019 in what was expected to be a huge move for the Spanish club. Since then, Felix’s time in Madrid has been mixed and there is a feeling that the Portuguese could do much better if he was in a different place.
Felix has played 18 times for the club across all competitions this season, scoring four goals and providing three assists until now. The 23-year-old has started most of the games off the bench after losing his place in the team early on in the campaign.
This is not the first time Chelsea are interested in signing Felix though. Back in 2019 when he was still at Benfica, the Blues had their eyes on the Portuguese striker but the 23-year-old eventually chose to go to Atletico back then. Now, the Blues have a chance to sign the player yet again.
Felix has a contract with the Spanish club until 2026 (Transfermarkt) and he will definitely not come cheap. Atletico will not want to do any buying club any favours and if Chelsea want him to sign him, they will have to come up with a good offer.
Here is what Atletico CEO Gil Marin had to say about the future of the Portuguese forward and if the club will look to sell him.
“João Felix has top level. But because of his relationship with Simeone and game time… we feel that makes sense to consider potential bids to sell him.”
Felix has been showing at the World Cup what he is all about. The Portuguese forward has been one of the stand-out attackers for his nation and it is a timely reminder of how good the Atletico forward can be when he is given the proper conditions to thrive.
Felix can be the person Graham Potter chooses to build his Chelsea project around. Potter has not had the best of times as the Blues manager but he will know that he needs to turn things around and stamp his authority on the team that he has.
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Chelsea will have to be on top of their game to convince Atletico Madrid to sell Felix to them. It remains to be seen how they go about it but it remains to be seen how this particular transfer story pans out.