Mercado
The Portuguese, who already has a closed agreement with the ‘blue’ club, will remain at Stamford Bridge on loan until the end of the season and without a purchase option
The soap opera Joao Félix comes to an end. At least for now, because the Portuguese attacker will be a Chelsea player until June, on loan but without a ‘blue’ purchase option. Atlético prefers not to close the door on a return to the Metropolitan next summer, who knows if with Cholo Simeone on the mattress bench.
The lack of understanding between the Argentine coach and the promising footballer has been one of the triggers for this departure, to say the least surprising in the case of a transfer that cost Atlético 127 million euros in 2019. Three and a half seasons of irregular performance, disappointing at times, it is far from being a balance that compensates for that economic effort.
That is why the offices of the Metropolitan have finally decided to seek accommodation for Joao Félix until the end of the season, fulfilling the firm wish of the Portuguese on the condition that he sign a renewal of the contract that expires in 2026 and that if it is Extended until 2027, it would facilitate the amortization of the expensive signing executed at the time.
His new club will fully assume his record until June 30 and a payment that will raise the amount to eleven million for an operation that satisfies Joao Félix, a collection of bad gestures and rudeness in recent months. He wanted at all costs to find a new team and Chelsea’s offer convinced him everything that Unai Emery’s Aston Villa did not, a much less competitive team today.
Chelsea himself is also doing well, with no reaction after the departure of Thomas Tuchel and the arrival of Graham Potter on the bench. The London team is stuck in the middle of the table in the English Premier League and eliminated from the FA Cup, but is still alive in the Champions League.
an untenable situation
Finally, Atlético resolved a crossroads and cleared the dressing room for Simeone, who since the preseason did not want to have five forwards in his squad. Without Matheus Cunha and Joao Félix, the Cholo will not coexist on a day-to-day basis with two players who are not of his rope.
The club’s CEO, Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, always trusted the Portuguese’s talent, which is why the letter to recover it is still kept, but as he surprisingly recognized during the World Cup, the situation was unsustainable. “The relationship with the coach is not good, nor is his motivation,” the rojiblanco top shareholder said on December 6, in a declaration of intent that already telegraphed an exit that is now close to being confirmed.
In the mattress offices they are already working to find an attacker to help until the end of the season. In this context, according to what SER pointed out yesterday, the still Barça player Memphis Depay, whom Barça is looking for accommodation in this winter market, would be the chosen one.
