Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has broken his silence on Joao Felix amid concerns Chelsea will not sign him permanently in the summer. It is understood that Atletico boss Diego Simeone does not view Felix as part of his plans for next season and the club had been hoping to offload him. Chelsea spent £16m to bring Felix to Stamford Bridge in January on loan for the remainder of the season and Atletico wanted the Blues to pay £70.5m at the end of the current campaign to make it a permanent transfer. However, Felix has only shown flashes of promise during his time in the Premier League, having started Chelsea’s last two games on the bench and being brought on as a second-half substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Brighton last Saturday and the 2-0 loss at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
When quizzed about Felix’s future, Atletico president Cerezo told El Larguero: ‘We’ll have to wait and see. Chelsea is a big team that can count on him. If he comes [back], he will be welcome. In football you can never rule out anything, any surprise can happen.’ Newcastle United and Manchester United could be other options for Felix, who have both previously registered an interest in the 23-year-old forward. Speaking about his future last month, Felix said: ‘I always try to do my best but sometimes it didn’t work so I had to change to see if the things go different, so it is important for me this loan. The future no one knows and I am just focused on tomorrow’s game. We don’t know what will happen but I am happy here, the group is so big it is amazing, everyone at the club is so good so I am happy to be here.’
Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has addressed speculation surrounding Joao Felix’s future amid concerns Chelsea will not sign him permanently in the summer. It is understood that Atletico boss Diego Simeone does not view Felix as part of his plans for next season and the club had been hoping to offload him. Chelsea spent £16m to bring Felix to Stamford Bridge in January on loan for the remainder of the season and Atletico wanted the Blues to pay £70.5m at the end of the current campaign to make it a permanent transfer.
However, Felix has only shown flashes of promise during his time in the Premier League, having started Chelsea’s last two games on the bench and being brought on as a second-half substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Brighton last Saturday and the 2-0 loss at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday evening. When quizzed about Felix’s future, Atletico president Cerezo told El Larguero: ‘We’ll have to wait and see. Chelsea is a big team that can count on him. If he comes [back], he will be welcome. In football you can never rule out anything, any surprise can happen.’
Newcastle United and Manchester United could be other options for Felix, who have both previously registered an interest in the 23-year-old forward. Speaking about his future last month, Felix said: ‘I always try to do my best but sometimes it didn’t work so I had to change to see if the things go different, so it is important for me this loan. The future no one knows and I am just focused on tomorrow’s game. We don’t know what will happen but I am happy here, the group is so big it is amazing, everyone at the club is so good so I am happy to be here.’