Out of the frying pan, into the fire? That feels appropriate when describing Joao Felix’s prospective loan move to Chelsea.
It has now been three-and-a-half years since Atletico Madrid signed Felix for €126m (£111m) from Benfica, and no player has commanded as great a fee since.
To suggest this price tag has weighed heavily on Felix would not necessarily be fair, but what has become evident is that Atletico – this club that has housed some of the greatest strikers of the modern era – are a round hole to the square peg that is Felix.
Unlike Fernando Torres, Radamel Falcao, Diego Costa, Diego Forlan, Sergio Aguero and David Villa before him, Felix is not simply an out-and-out striker, and there are arguably more facets to his game than his Atletico predecessors.
As a result, the Diego Simeone way has failed to bring the best out of Felix, and a very public falling out has followed, with manager blaming player and vice versa.
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“But while I am here, it goes by performances. That is why other teammates are playing. It remains clear that every time he was good, he played.”
Simeone’s comments came just days after he left Felix on the bench for their goalless Champions League draw against Club Brugge.
The Atletico boss opted for Axel Witsel as his final substitute with more than 10 minutes remaining, leaving Felix visibly perplexed, and the forward made his feelings clear later that week when doing a “shush” celebration after scoring – in training.
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) October 13, 2022
This is how João Félix celebrated his goal in training today.
[@JaviGomezCh] pic.twitter.com/FnnYhnB6jH
Felix went on to make a thinly-veiled dig at Atletico’s style while playing for Portugal at the World Cup, where the 23-year-old started four of their five matches on the left wing.
“The way you play here and at the club are different,” Felix told Portuguese channel Sport TV. “When the conditions are favourable, things go better.”
It was also during the World Cup when Atletico CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin conceded Felix was likely to move on after a breakdown in his relationship with Simeone.
“[Joao Felix] is the biggest bet this club has taken in its history. I personally think he’s a top talent, a world class player,” he told TVE.
“For reasons it isn’t worth getting into – the relationship between him and the boss [Simeone], the minutes played, his motivation right now – it makes you think that the reasonable thing is that if there’s an option that’s good for the player, good for the club, we can look at it. I’d love him to stay personally, but I don’t think that’s the player’s idea.”
And so, to Chelsea, where the problems are mounting for Graham Potter in his first season, and where Felix is reportedly on the verge of joining for €11m (£9.7m) until the end of the season.
Sitting 10th in the Premier League and 10 points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, a haul of 20 league goals is comfortably below every single club above them in the table, the same total as Aston Villa, and also fewer than Leicester City (26) and Leeds United (25) below them.
Chelsea top scorers
All competitions in 2022-23
- Raheem Sterling – 6
- Kai Havertz – 5
- Mason Mount – 3
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – 3
- Jorginho – 3
- Reece James – 2
- Eight players on one goal
Raheem Sterling is their leading goalscorer with six goals in all competitions this season, and by contrast Erling Haaland leads the way for Manchester City with 27, Harry Kane has 17 at Tottenham, Mohamed Salah 17 at Liverpool, and Marcus Rashford 13 at Manchester United.
Arsenal, meanwhile, may not boast one single player with more than 10 goals, yet, but with Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah all scoring seven apiece so far this season, it is evident the burden is being shared at the Emirates at a time when no players are stepping up at Stamford Bridge.
To therefore think that Felix is the sole answer to this issue would be foolish. He has five goals in 20 appearances this season, 34 goals in 131 appearances since joining Atletico, and while he is arguably a step up on Chelsea’s other wide options and can also play centrally, in truth he appears to be a mere stopgap until Christopher Nkunku arrives in the summer from RB Leipzig, as has been reported.
That piles the pressure on Felix to make an instant impact, particularly as there is reportedly no obligation to buy, and so what Potter will need is for Felix to bring a fresh impetus to this forward line by contributing goals and also providing for those around him. Essentially, get Chelsea to start channelling Arsenal, and fast. Who’d have thought we’d be saying that at the start of the season?
Possible Chelsea starting XI: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Silva, Koulibaly, Cucurella; Zakaria, Kovavic, Mount; Sterling, Havertz, Felix
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