Fabrizio Romano: Mauricio Pochettino's belief in Christopher Nkunku saw Chelsea drop Joao Felix interest. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
According to Fabrizio Romano, Mauricio Pochettino was convinced by the talents of Christopher Nkunku at Chelsea, which led to the club not retaining interest in Joao Felix.
The Italian journalist also revealed that, from a financial point of view, it was challenging to buy the Portuguese forward. He has since joined Barcelona on loan and any hopes we have of landing him are now dead in the water.
The Blues were linked with the former Benfica forward in the summer window, but the Catalan giants pushed for his acquisition until the deadline day of the transfer window. The latter has now won the race and Felix is settling in well to life at the Nou Camp.
However, the Argentine manager was not so keen on keeping Felix. Pochettino felt that Nkunku was more of an ideal player for the West Londoners, as revealed by Romano on his YouTube channel:
“The feeling at Chelsea from June to August was that for Atlético, it was impossible to accept a loan deal. It was a permanent transfer or nothing, and Atlético knew Chelsea had decided against spending €70 million to €80 million. It was a no for Chelsea from the financial point of view.”
“And also from a technical point of view, Pochettino was not convinced about this solution and believed that Nkunku was perfect for Chelsea in that kind of creative position. So, they (Pochettino and the club) decided together to go on a different way.”
Even from a financial point of view, Felix would have cost between €70 -80 million, a significant amount given his lack of recent success. While Felix did show promise at Stamford Bridge, he was far from a world beater worthy of such a sum.
Felix had a decent spell at Chelsea when he played for us during his brief loan stint. Unfortunately, Pochettino’s decision prevented us from keeping Felix and it could be due to tactical reasons as to why he didn’t want the 23-year-old at Chelsea.
But there is no reason for concern since Nkunku is just as gifted as Felix. Additionally, Atletico made exorbitant demands for Felix, and we were able to get Nkunku for less than half of what the Spanish club sought.
Nkunku will certainly have a much bigger impact than Felix once he returns from an injury because his presence will bolster the team, which Pochettino was expecting to have after the pre-season, but injuries certainly ruined his plans.
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