Arsenal want Joao Felix and Atletico Madrid are seemingly aware that the Portuguese ace is worth much less than what they paid.
Cast your minds back to 2019 and Felix is considered to be a star in the making.
Felix had racked up 15 goals in 26 league games for Benfica and had Europe’s elite chasing his signature.
Atletico Madrid forked out a staggering £113million to sign Felix, believing that he would be the future of their attack.
Yet less than four years on, Felix could be heading for the Atletico exit.
Arsenal want Joao Felix
90Min claim that Felix wants to leave Atletico with agent Jorge Mendes exploring potential moves away.
The problem for Atletico is that most of the interested clubs would only really want to take Felix on loan to begin with, which may not suit Atletico.
The 23-year-old is contracted to Atletico until 2026 but the Madrid club realise that Felix’s value is now much, much less than what they paid for him in 2019.
No club is coming in with £113million for Felix and even recouping two thirds of that may now be a battle.
Felix has managed 33 goals and 18 assists in 129 games for Atletico, which maybe isn’t the kind of goal return they were expecting.
The report notes that Chelsea, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain all have an interest in signing Felix though.
Another suitor is Arsenal with Give Me Sport reporting that the Gunners board are big fans of the Portuguese international.
You can certainly imagine a technically-gifted player like Felix thriving in Mikel Arteta’s system – or at least more so than under Diego Simeone.
It seems unlikely that Arsenal would splash the cash on Felix in January but could he be another Martin Odegaard?
The parallels are there; a wonderkid who made a big move to Madrid but wasn’t quite able to find his best form.
`Odegaard headed on loan to Arsenal in 2021 before turning the move permanent and the Gunners may fancy doing the same with Felix.
That’s something to consider with the striker pushing to leave Atletico in 2023.
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