Silky superstar or a sulky, immature waste of money?
Chelsea’s new loan signing Felix cost Atletico £110m but he’s yet to shine in Spain. So, have the struggling Blues signed a...
THERE are two theories about Joao Felix, the 23-year-old Portuguese international Chelsea are signing on loan until the end of the season. One says he’s every inch the £110million player his agent Jorge Mendes encouraged them to sign in 2019. The other is that he’s a sulk — too immature to make it in any team that doesn’t give him exactly the role he wants.
The only way to find out which theory is correct is to take Diego Simeone out of the equation, and this short-term loan to Chelsea does exactly that. It is the Atletico Madrid boss who Felix’s supporters say has completely failed to develop the young talent.
Graham Potter’s handling of his new signing’s immense natural ability will show whether the conservative Argentine was the problem all along, or whether Atletico were sold short three and a half years ago when they broke their transfer record for a player who had only started 21 games in Portugal’s Primeira Liga.
Simeone believes Felix has failed to grow up during his time in Spain. The player himself believes Atletico have misused him. Both have a point.
Felix is a player who has to be treated differently. Simeone doesn’t believe in treating anyone differently. He demands that all his players apply themselves in various systems and in different roles, putting aside personal gains for the benefit of the team.
Players often have to change position several times during matches. And he believes in a hierarchy in which no one has the right to get fasttracked to respected dressing-room leader status.
Felix does not fit the Simeone soldier template. He doesn’t want to be positionally flexible. He wants to play where he believes he operates best, behind a striker, and preferably operating in a central position — arriving there, if not starting there.
He has demanded the status of a record signing from day one and not understood why he hasn’t received it. And Simeone’s reluctance to play him behind Alvaro Morata and alongside Antoine Griezmann, where he may well have thrived, has worn down his patience.
In the first game back after the winter break, that’s exactly how Atletico played — with Felix outstanding as he scored in a 2-0 win over Elche. But in the next game, Barcelona were the opponents and Simeone abandoned his 3-4-2-1 — with Felix alongside Griezmann and behind Morata — to play 4-4-2 in a 1-0 defeat in which Felix spent 73 minutes bumping off of Barca’s centre backs before he was taken off.
If Potter plays him in a 4-3-3, where he performed well enough for Portugal in the World Cup, he will have to be given similar freedom to drift infield as he was by then national team boss Fernando Santos. He certainly isn’t an orthodox winger who hugs the touchline. And neither is he a central striker able to play with his back to goal. The fact that Chelsea don’t appear to have anyone who can do that job is a problem, with or without Felix.
The Portuguese’s position is important, but it’s not everything. Simeone favours waiting for teams to come on to his Atletico side and hitting them on the break. That leaves forwards a long way from goal. Not for nothing have Barcelona twice tried to sign Felix — their boss Xavi’s preference for playing closer to the opposition’s goal would suit the player far more. He ought to be happier playing for Potter than for Simeone.
And that points to the one thing that is definitely in Chelsea’s favour — Felix will feel a sense of relief stepping away from Simeone and some of Atletico’s senior players, who have grown tired of his fairly obvious desire to leave. They didn’t like his withdrawal from two recent earlyround cup games only to then be available for important league matches, either.
For Felix, a move to London will be like someone taking the weights out of his pockets. He’ll be coming up for air with a new coach who wants to get the best out of him and kindred-spirit players around him. The way Atletico see it, that new lease of life will either help him find his form again, meaning his market price recovers, or he will learn that the grass away from Simeone is not always greener.
Life at Chelsea was tough for other Aletico wantaways — Saul, Morata and Filipe Luis — and they all returned with a renewed commitment to make it work in Spain.
There is another scenario of course. Felix tears it up at Chelsea and, back in Spain, Atletico fail to make the Champions League.
That will make Todd Boehly want to sign Felix permanently — and it could also mean the end of Simeone at Atletico.