The story of João Félix reads as a warning to too early wonders. In 2019, Benfica received 126 million euros – a record for the club – by giving it to Atlético Madrid. Five years later, according to the Record newspaper, the LisBoets plan to recover it on loan this summer. Objective: to compete in the 2025 club World Cup in the United States, where Benfica will represent Europe. A homecoming that sounds like an admission of failure for the Portuguese striker, tossed between loans and disillusions.
Chelsea, Milan … the European impasse
Currently on loan to AC Milan, João Félix (24) has not convinced the Rossonera management to lift the purchase option. With only 4 goals in 24 games in all competitions, its passage in Serie will remain unanswered. In June, he returned to Chelsea, where his contract runs until 2031. But the blues, already congested by a plethoric workforce, favored a new loan. Despite staggering wages, Félix never managed to win in Stamford Bridge after his arrival in 2023, then at Atlético, where his relations with Diego Simeone had fired in the Clash.
Joao Felix, how a prodigy lost his star
Benfica, a refuge in the shape of a trap for Joao Felix
The scenario imagined by Benfica testifies to a pragmatism without nostalgia: a one year loan from June 2025, allowing the player to be eligible for the World Cup of clubs (June-July 2025). A low cost operation for a player whose rating has plummeted, estimated today at € 40 million by TransferMarkt. If some supporters will see a possible redemption there, others will point the irony of a return where it all started … before the transfer window consumes it.
2031, the sword of Damocles
The real headache remains his contract with Chelsea, who binds him for six additional seasons. An aberrant duration, signed in full Mercato madness, which complicates any permanent negotiation. Benfica, like other clubs, refuses to engage financially in the long term for a player who has been lacking in regularity for five years.
João Félix now embodies the fate of the gifted sacrificed on the altar of XXL transfers. His return to Benfica, if he materializes, will he mark a rebound or the last step before the anonymity of the secondary championships? Response in 2025.
