Journalist says Chelsea 3rd in the race for ‘quality’ player, ‘Arsenal have the edge’ right now

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Speaking on The Done Deal Show, Dean Jones has been discussing the race to sign Joao Felix in January.

The Portuguese forward will be allowed to leave Atletico Madrid on loan this month, but the Spanish club reportedly want a monumental €20m (£17m) loan fee for the player.

For this reason, no club has quite advanced with their interest in him yet, but according to Jones there is a hierarchy in this race.

Jones says it’s tough to split Arsenal and Manchester United as the frontrunners in this race, while Chelsea are third.

When pushed to say who he thinks are the favourites for Felix though, Jones eventually conceded that Arsenal may have the edge in this race.

Arsenal leading Felix race

Jones shared what he knows about the race for the ‘quality’ attacker.

“It genuinely is up in the air at the moment because of this valuation that is on him. Nobody is going to pay that at the moment. Manchester United have made the first steps towards this deal and they’re not willing to go near it,” Jones said,

“It’s looking like Arsenal or Man United and then Chelsea. I can’t make my way between those. I would say Arsenal need him more because he’ll make a bigger impact. Man United would be a good move, but I don’t think it would be as defining in their season.

“I just feel like centrally, Joao Felix could be so helpful and I think Arsenal have the edge.”

Feels more Chelsea or United

While Jones is led to believe that Arsenal have the edge in the race for Felix, we can’t help but feel that this move feels a lot more like something Chelsea or Manchester United would do.

£17m for a six month loan is outrageous money, and Arsenal are usually much more savvy long-term thinkers than that.

Meanwhile, both Chelsea and United are exactly the type of clubs who do these expensive short-term moves, especially for attackers.

They both signed Radamel Falcao on loan for massive money, Chelsea’s move for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the summer felt like a panic buy, while United’s move for Cristiano Ronaldo last summer was the epitome of short-termism in football.

Felix is a brilliant player, and if he was available for a reasonable fee on a permanent deal, a move to Arsenal would make sense, but an expensive loan like this just doesn’t seem to fit what Edu and Mikel Arteta are trying to do in north London.