Joao Felix appears to be on his way out of Atletico Madrid, with club CEO Miguel ngel Gil Marn confirming the Portuguese player’s desire to leave.
Gil Marn is in Doha for tomorrow’s La Liga Assembly, which Real Madrid and Barcelona have both decided to abstain from.
The Atletico CEO explained to AS that Felix, 23, wants to leave the team because of a strained relationship between him and manager Diego Simeone.
The CEO said: “He is the biggest transfer that the club has made. I think he can play at the highest level in the world, but for the reasons that are not worth saying now, the relationship between the coach and him is not good. Neither is his motivation. The reasonable thing is to think that he will leave. Although I would love him to stay here, he doesn’t want to remain at the club.”
Benfica sold Felix to Atletico for €126 million, making him the club’s most expensive acquisition. Despite this, he hasn’t exactly been in great form for the team, scoring 24 league goals in 94 games.
The Los Rojiblancos have reportedly set a €100 million asking price for Felix in response to interest from several elite European clubs.
Joao Felix made an allusion to his problems with Simeone after assisting Portugal to a 6-1 victory over Switzerland in the World Cup round of 16 on Tuesday.
“Yes, I feel better while playing for Portugal,” he said. “The way we play here is totally different [from Atletico Madrid], and the joy is also completely different.”
Joao Felix joined Atletico as a highly anticipated youngster after leading Benfica in goals in his first season in the top league in 2018–19 with 15 goals.
In three and a half seasons at the Metropolitano, he has scored 24 league goals while frequently appearing to suit Simeone’s playing style and philosophy awkwardly.
“All the bad things that Joao does, I do worse,” Simeone said in October when asked why he hadn’t been able to get the best out of the player. “All the frustration that he has means I’m not giving him what he needs to show his talent and the football he has.”
With Manchester United, PSG, and Barcelona all rumored to be interested in Felix, he is sure to have a large pool of suitors if he decides to go on.
Simeone’s team, who has had a rocky start to the year, might miss him.
After nine games in La Liga, they are now in fourth place but are already five points behind the leaders. In the Champions League, their performance was appalling, as they were knocked out in the group stage.
Joao Felix
Joao Félix Sequeira (Joaqun Feliciano Sequeira) is a Portuguese professional football player who plays as a forward for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Portugal national team.
His Portuguese name is Joao Félix Sequeira.
He can also play as a winger or an attacking midfielder and is renowned for his versatility, finishing, inventiveness, and dribbling.
Before joining rivals Benfica in 2015, Félix first received his training in Porto’s youth divisions. A year later, he joined the latter’s reserve squad, and in 2018, he was promoted to the first team, making his professional debut at the age of 17.
In his first and only season with Benfica, he went on to score a lot of goals and lead the team to the league title. For his efforts, he was given the Golden Boy and Best Young Player of the Year awards in the Primeira Liga.
At the age of 19, he made history by scoring a hat trick in the UEFA Europa League as the youngest player ever.
As a result of Félix’s performances, several European clubs expressed interest in signing him, and Atlético Madrid did so in 2019 for a club record fee of €126 million (£113 million).
This was the fourth-most expensive transfer in football history, the second-highest amount ever paid for a teenager, and the highest sum ever paid for a Portuguese player leaving the domestic league.
Soon after, Félix was named to the Ballon d’Or shortlist and placed third for the Kopa Trophy in 2019.
He contributed to the team’s 2020–21 La Liga championship, ending the club’s seven-year league title drought.
Former young international for Portugal, Félix competed at the under-18, under-19, and under-21 levels.
He received his first senior national team call-up during the 2019 UEFA Nations League, helping his country win the inaugural championship on home grounds.
He is presently competing in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar with the Portugal National Team.
