Chelsea are in negotiations with Atletico Madrid over the future of Joao Felix, and a swap deal including Pierre Aubameyang is possible. Despite the fact that Felix only joined Chelsea in January on loan, it appears that he will stay for another year. This could result in limited opportunities for Aubameyang to start for the Blues. According to Standard Sport, Chelsea may also use Marc Cucurella in the swap deal with Madrid. That is, either of Aubameyang or Cucurella will be swapped for Felix.
The Spanish club is said to be interested in both players and talks have already begun between two heavyweight clubs of Europe. A second loan agreement for Felix is expected to be around £16 million. Atletico are ready to let go of Felix as well but their ask for £100 million is not something that Chelsea are willing to obey.
Even though Joao Felix has underperformed for the Blues, having scored only 3 goals in the 17 games that he has been part of, he is said to be willing to stay in West London. He knows that he clearly does not belong to the long-term plans of Diego Simeone and is therefore readily willing to perform here in England.
What next for Joao Felix?
The Portuguese international has had a shaky start to his Premier League career. In his first game for the club under Graham Potter, he was given a straight red card in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Fulham. And after serving a 3-match suspension, he has not been the staple of Frank Lampard, finding it tough to get game form under the Englishman.
Nonetheless, Felix may well fancy his chances next season under Mauricio Pochettino. The ex-Tottenham manager is expected to join Chelsea very soon and if he does so we can expect Joao Felix to get quality game time and settle under his attacking style of football. We have seen how he developed forwards like Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son during his tenure at Spurs and we can well expect the same development for Felix courtesy Pochettino’s style of play.