While things in football often seem to be black or white, Joao Felix’s Atletico Madrid career falls somewhere in the middle. Neither a disaster nor a success. Moments of pure promise and striking quality sandwiched by long spells of anonymity. Neither black, nor white, but a grainy shade of grey.
Take Joao Felix’s sublime finish during Atletico’s 2-0 win away at Villarreal in February 2021, for instance. That was one of ten goals he scored that season, and a reminder as to why the La Liga giants were willing to make the then-19-year-old forward the fifth-most expensive player in football history when stumping up a staggering £113 million after just nine months in the Benfica first team.
Hovering with intent at the edge of the penalty area, Felix effortlessly controlled a high ball on his chest and, all in one fluid and thrilling movement, swept an inch-perfect volley into the bottom corner.
If any moment summed up Felix’s time in the Spanish capital, it was this. Wheeling with a finger pressed on his lips, a ‘shushing’ celebration aimed firmly at his critics, that stunning strike against Villarreal was only his second in 15 La Liga matches.
“Joao hadn’t scored for a very long time,” Atletico team-mate Stefan Savic said at full-time. “And I’m delighted for him because he’s a player with incredible talent.”
Feast, following famine. A genuinely wonderful footballer, stuck in the wrong team. Like Daniel Day Lewis wasted in a Kevin James comedy.
Could Aston Villa really sign Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix?
There appears to be an acceptance now – a begrudging one, as far as CEO Miguel Angel Gil is concerned – that Felix and Diego Simeone is a marriage destined for divorce.
“I think he is at the highest level in the world, in terms of talent,” Gil tells TVE.
“But the relationship with the coach, the number of minutes he is playing, his motivation… the reasonable thing is that, if there is an offer that is good for the player and the club, we (will) at least analyse it.
“I would love him to stay. But that is not the player’s idea.”
And reports suggesting that Aston Villa are currently leading the chase for Felix’s signature, via Marca, feels like a real statement of intent from those billionaire owners who, since taking over at Villa Park, have set their sights on talent that would, during previous eras, have been little more than a pipe dream. The chances of Felix ending up at Villa may seem slim. But we said the same about Philippe Coutinho, Diego Carlos and Boubakar Kamara.
‘Very dangerous’
Whether Unai Emery is the man to get the best out of this most mercurial of talents, however, is certainly open for debate. While admittedly a pragmatic, defence-first tactician, Emery has often managed to find a place for a more cerebral, technical talent in his team; see Ever Banega at Sevilla, Gerard Moreno at Villarreal.
Emery, meanwhile, was in charge of the Villarreal team who found themselves on the wrong end of Felix’s surgical right boot in February 2021. And the Portuguese playmaker certainly left an impression on the Basque-born tactician that night; Emery singling out the ‘very dangerous’ Felix for praise as Villarreal and Atletico locked horns again a year later.
“(Atletic have) a lot of quality (players), who run out wide and are very dangerous, such Felix. They’re a very strong Atletico side.”
As things stand, rumours linking Aston Villa with Joao Felix are just that. Rumours. But the fact that such a move cannot be discounted is a sign of the times, and a reminder of how much the mindset has changed at Villa Park under Wes Edens and Nayef Sawiris.
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