On July 3, 2019, Atlético de Madrid broke the bank to afford Benfica nugget Joao Félix. The Portuguese striker joined the Colchoneros for a record fee of 126 million euros. An XXL transfer which was to bring a new level to Diego Simeone’s team. By discovering a new football, João Felix also offered himself a new challenge that was not easy to meet. But that marriage never worked out and over time the 23-year-old striker became an undesirable.
After an interesting start, he gradually disappeared from the radar. Failing to fit into the very particular system of Diego Simeone, Joao Felix settled more and more permanently on the bench. A situation that he had trouble digesting and which began to create tension with both his coach and his management. Result, after all the same 131 matches (35 goals), the Portuguese international was loaned to Chelsea last season for 6 months with the idea of reviving.
Barça will try to revive him
But despite some good matches, Joao Felix did not really convince and Chelsea did not want to keep him. The fault also with the direction of Madrid which claims a large sum to yield its player which thus cost a fortune 4 years ago. This summer, the situation of the Portuguese has not changed since he has not played any meeting at the start of the season. And faced with this situation, FC Barcelona, which the player really wanted to join as he had publicly declared, was able to take advantage of it.
“The Blaugrana club and Atlético de Madrid reach an agreement concerning the loan of the Portuguese, who will play at FC Barcelona until June 30, 2024. There is no purchase option. The club would like to thank the player for his economic effort and his desire to wear the Barça shirt.”, explains the press release from Barça. With the departure of Ousmane Dembélé, FC Barcelona offers itself a nice attacking reinforcement which must show better to prove its former coach wrong. He will have the opportunity to express himself in a team that sometimes lacks attacking madness. In another press release, Atlético Madrid also formalized the extension of the Portuguese player, now linked to Colchoneros until 2028.
