A former Atlético player has highlighted a selfish side of Portuguese striker Joao Félix.
Former Atletico Madrid captain Diego Godin has hit out at Joao Felix. Even if he did not know him at Matelassiers, he criticized him for his lack of investment during his time in the Spanish capital.
“At Atlético, Joao Félix only thought of himself”
Felix has settled into his career at Barcelona after leaving Atletico on loan last month. A rebound that Godin follows from afar and without being particularly happy for the Portuguese international.
Godin said: “He (Joao Felix) could never understand what Atlético was and what this locker room was. I was no longer in that locker room and no teammate said anything to me about him. I didn’t ask either. But he was never able to adapt to the situation demanded by the club. In my time, we tried to chart a path, we made people understand that the group is above all individuality. And from the outside, it seemed to me that in his case it was not like that, that he thought more about himself than the team.”
The Uruguayan then went on to say that Joao Felix did nothing to adapt well to Atlético even though the club had paid a record sum for his services (€124m). “What is also true is that he had attitudes that did not sit well with the fans. It was evident in the stadium. They whistled at him. His face, his gestures when he was substituted, when he was not playing, were obvious. Annoyance, anger and that sort of thing, people see it and make you feel it. It’s impossible to be comfortable in a place where people don’t like you. And him, I don’t know what problems he had with whom, but it’s obvious that he was never comfortable and that people never supported him, and ultimately he didn’t was able to play…”
If he was at Atlético in the same locker room as Joao Félix, how would he have behaved with him? “I don’t know,” Godin replied. I’m very careful because at Atlético I have friends, there’s Koke, Griezmann… Saying that is like saying “these guys didn’t know how to turn things around while we did”. I don’t know. I know what they did to try. I don’t know what would have happened. Maybe we would have done things differently.”
