Chelsea reaches a verbal agreement with Felix for a loan deal

Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix is almost set to join the London club after verbally agreeing to a loan deal, as per The Athletic.

Chelsea is expected to pay a reduced loan fee of €11 million, a little less than what the Spanish side asked for. United and Arsenal were amongst the parties interested in the Portuguese. However, the 23-year-old believes in the project at Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal initially showed their interest last month, when Atletico’s Chief Executive Angel Gil Marin said that Felix might leave the Spanish outfit.

He said to TVE: “The reasonable thing is to think he (Joao Felix) will leave. Although I would love him to stay, that is not the player’s idea.”

Why does Felix want to leave?

Felix arrived from Benfica for a fee upwards of €125 million in 2019. However, under Simeone’s tactics, he has failed to make an impact. So far this season, the forward has scored just five goals and registered three assists. His performance in the recent match against FC Barcelona was under par as well as his side gave away three points to the visitors.

Joao Felix, who plays his best as an inside forward or as a playmaker struggles to generate goals and assist due to Simeone’s rigid defensive style of play. At Chelsea, who have a fluid style of play with two inside forward playing behind a striker, Felix is likely to shine.

The Londoners on the other hand are going through a rough patch of form. They recently suffered a second loss to Manchester City in the span of three days. In the FA Cup, they suffered a heavy 4-0 thrashing, that too when Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne did not feature. The two most crucial players for City were out for rest after their earlier 1-0 victory over Chelsea during midweek. 

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