Arsenal transfer news: £250,000-a-week Gunners target now on the verge of joining Chelsea instead

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Arsenal won’t be signing Joao Felix this month after Chelsea reached a verbal agreement to take the Portuguese attacker on loan.

That’s according to The Athletic, who state that Chelsea now have a deal in place for Felix to head to Stamford Bridge.

Felix’s future has been a hot topic for weeks now with Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone clearly keen for the forward to move on.

Atletico have now accepted an €11million (£9.68million) loan deal from Chelsea, which is lower than what they originally requested.

It’s stated that Arsenal and Manchester United did want to sign Felix but he has picked Chelsea because their project interested him.

That’s an intriguing decision given that Felix’s deal is a straight loan with no purchase option included, meaning he may only be part of that Chelsea project for a few months.

The deal isn’t absolutely done and dusted just yet but Chelsea seem to be in the box seat for Felix’s signature, ahead of Arsenal.

Arsenal shouldn’t be too gutted at missing out on Joao Felix

Arsenal have enjoyed a stunning season so far and have very genuine hopes of winning the Premier League title.

The injury to Gabriel Jesus is a problem though, and a striker signing this month could give Mikel Arteta and co a major boost.

Felix seemed like a great fit for Arsenal but missing out isn’t the end of the world.

£9.68million plus paying Felix’s wages – believed to be around £250,000-a-week – in full should take this deal north of £15million.

That’s a huge price to pay for a loan player, especially when there is no purchase clause included.

Arsenal did strike a similar deal for Martin Odegaard before convincing Real Madrid to sell, but that only saw Arsenal pay £1.8million as a loan fee and £38,000-a-week in wages.

That’s a huge difference to the Felix deal and whilst he could have made a big impact for Arsenal, the money for such a short-term deal just isn’t ideal for Edu and Arteta and co; let Chelsea pay it and Arsenal will move on to other targets.