Joao Felix’s permanent loan through FC Barcelona seems to have been confirmed on Friday through the president of his parent club, Atletico Madrid.
Enrique Cerezo spoke about the 8th edition of the Vicente del Bosque Football Tournament and asked about Félix through a journalist.
The Portuguese joined Atleti from Benfica in 2019, for $137 million (€127 million) which attracted attention at the time.
Critics doubted Felix’s type of football was suitable for the one Rojiblancos head coach Diego Simeone likes to play, and an imaginable feud between the two led to the 24-year-old going out on loan.
A transition spell at Chelsea for the remainder of the 2022/2023 season proved fruitless, which then led to Felix landing in Catalonia with compatriot Joao Cancelo on the final day of the summer moving window, when the existing crusade was already underway.
Fans and pundits have mixed emotions about Felix’s performances so far with Xavi Hernandez, however, a well-known admirer of Barca president Joan Laporta’s left winger, who is also close to the player’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is keen to make the deal permanent.
Reacting to Cerezo’s comments at the discussed event, SPORT reported that Laporta’s counterpart at Atleti took the proposed move “for granted”.
“He’s betting on Barcelona and it’s general that he needs to stay there. Barcelona needs them and needs them, because everyone is very happy,” Cerezo said.
“Apart from that, they will be lucky because Barcelona have a wonderful and magnificent player. Joao is a magnificent player. He’s adapting very well to Barcelona, he’s playing very well and we wish him all the luck in the world. “
As for how much Atletico expect to get out of the deal, Cerezo said: “I don’t know. “
“You have to ask the others in the economics department, I’m in the sports field,” he protested.
Felix is expected to charge Barca around $75. 6 million (€70 million), according to Radio MARCA’s Luis Rojo, unless Laporta and sporting director Deco manage to force the capital club to settle for less.
In times of economic hardship and difficulties in overcoming the limits of Financial Fair Play, Barça could possibly increase their budget through the sale of players or projects such as the one mentioned through Tot Costa, who can also contribute around 173 million euros. 160 million).