FELIX IS... THE NEW RONALDO
Atletico star out to become best in world
Meet Joao Felix, heir apparent to Cristiano Ronaldo as king of Portuguese football.
the similarities with Ronaldo are not confined to nationality, of course. Felix is honing his craft in the football hotbed of Madrid, just like his countryman did for nine years.
Ronaldo abdicated his position in the Spanish capital in 2018 when he left Real for Juventus, and the city is still searching for his successor. But Felix — albeit in the red and white of Atletico — is well equipped to follow in his mentor’s footsteps.
‘Cristiano is a big influence for me,’ Felix tells Sportsmail ahead of his club’s clash with Chelsea in the Champions League tonight. ‘When we are with the national team, he tries to give me and all of the young guys advice about work, motivation, everything.’
But the 21-year-old attacker is intent on creating his own legacy. And it is gearing up to be quite a year for this son of Pe teachers.
As well as gunning for the Champions League, Atletico are three points clear of Real at the top of La Liga with a game in hand. Once the domestic season is over, he will be at the forefront of Portugal’s defence of the euros.
Felix joined Atletico aged 19 for £113million to become the fourth most expensive player of all time, and the second most expensive teenager after Kylian Mbappe.
In his first interview with the British press, his command of english is immediately apparent. ‘In school in Portugal, we had english lessons for eight years and then I watched movies and tV series, so I’ve kept it,’ he explains.
Felix (below) is refreshingly candid as he discusses coping with the hype of being a child prodigy, knocking Real and Barcelona off their perch, his place next to Mbappe and erling Haaland as football’s golden boys and his admiration for Chelsea’s Mason Mount.
First on the agenda: that whopping price tag when he moved from Benfica to Atletico in 2019. ‘People always talk about my price, but I’ve forgotten about that number,’ he says.
‘I remember when people talked, but I’ve never thought about it. I’ve lived with this pressure since I was 18, so I started young. Sometimes it’s difficult but I try to live with it the best way.
‘News from football, for me, good or bad, I never see it.’
So far there is little evidence that massive expectations are hindering a career bursting with promise. Felix is quick to dispel a widely held view that he was released by Porto as a youngster. According to reports, he was let go aged 15 because of his slight frame. Felix’s account is rather different. ‘I was never released by Porto,’ he says. ‘I just told them I wanted to leave and Benfica appeared.’
Porto’s loss was Benfica’s gain. In 2018-19, his first and only season in Jorge Jesus’s senior team, he scored 20 goals in 43 appearances, helping win the Primeira Liga with performances that drew comparisons with Brazil great Kaka.
‘Kaka was my first reference in football. I used to watch videos of him and, sometimes, I would try to copy his moves and try to play like him,’ Felix reveals.
Weeks later, he was helping Portugal win the first UeFA Nations League title. By that point, Atletico and their coach Diego Simeone were sold on him to the tune of £113m — and it is proving money well spent.
Felix has already equalled his goal tally of nine for last season and has two more assists than last term with five.
For so long, we have watched Lionel Messi and Ronaldo push the boundaries. Now, suddenly, we are confronted by a future without those two geniuses. the search for new heroes is underway with Felix, Mbappe and Haaland leading the charge.
Plus, according to Felix, a Chelsea midfielder who divides opinion even among his club’s own supporters.
Felix is glowing in his appraisal of Mount ahead of tonight’s showdown, claiming he knew all about the england cap’s talents before he had made his first-team breakthrough.
‘I like the way Mount plays, the way he likes to drag the ball, the way he touches the ball,’ says Felix.
‘I played with Chris Willock (another english player who is now at QPR) at Benfica four years ago and he told me that Chelsea had a guy that he sees who is similar to me and he told me it was Mason.
‘A few years later, he appeared in the Chelsea team and I like the way he plays. Chris had told me about him before he appeared in the league, so I was waiting to see him.’
On the emergence of world football’s new generation of Mbappe, Haaland and himself, and their efforts to succeed Ronaldo and Messi at the top, the Portuguese adds: ‘I hope I reach that level because Cristiano and Messi reached a level that no other player has reached.
‘We want to do the same. We want to show people that we can do that too. Mbappe and Haaland are in a good way to do it and if I reach that level, too, it’s very good for me.’
For now, though, Felix’s focus is on collective glory with Atletico.
Having recovered from a bout of Covid-19 earlier this year, he has returned to Simeone’s team in recent weeks.
‘At the beginning, I felt a little tired,’ he says. ‘But now in the games, I’m in a good way again and I feel good.’
encouraging news for Felix and Atletico. Not so good for their rivals — in particular, Real and Barca.
‘Normally, it was just Real and Barcelona but people now see Atletico is a great club too and we can fight with Real and Barcelona for everything,’ adds Felix.
‘It’s a motivation for us because we are at Atletico and people do not talk too much about us. they talk more about Real and Barcelona. that’s why we are doing a great season.’
then, of course, there is the prospect of winning Atletico’s first european Cup, although Chelsea — and Mount — will surely have something to say about that.