Barcelona, Atletico Madrid or Saudi Arabia - what next for Joao Felix? Football's great enigma still searching for a proper home

Posted Wednesday, March 20, 2024 by Goal.com

The Blaugrana have no intention of spending big on the Portuguese forward while Diego Simeone doesn't want him at the Metropolitano

Trust has always meant everything to Joao Felix. “I always had the ball at my feet,” he once wrote of his childhood in an article for The Players’ Tribune. “Always. Always. Always. And if I was going to pass it to you, well, I had to trust you, right? I mean… that’s my ball, I don’t know what you’re going to do with it. You could just give it away or something, I won’t allow that!

“As I grew as a man, and as a player, I realised that’s what I loved - to have the ball, and to play wonderful, happy football. That’s when I’m at my best, that’s when I am me. But when I played for Porto’s youth teams, that didn’t always happen. They didn’t believe in me as much as I believed in myself. They didn’t trust me on the field. They criticised me for my size. They took me off the pitch, they took away my ball. At Porto, I lost my joy.”

He found it again at Benfica, of course, but it’s only been seen sporadically since. Because the truth of the matter is that very few people still have faith in Felix. Atletico Madrid used to believe in him - a lot. They even paid Benfica €126 million (£113m/$142m) for his services in the summer of 2019. However, at the Metropolitano, they no longer trust Felix; on the contrary, they feel betrayed by him.

'Shouldn't be seen as the bad guy'

Felix has a plaque on the ‘Legends Walk’ outside the Metropolitano, having reached 100 appearances for Atleti in February 2022. However, as fans made their way into the ground for Sunday’s Liga clash with Barcelona, Felix’s current club, many fans spat on that very same plaque, while another set fire to a replica of his old Rojiblancos shirt.

Speaking after the game, in which he had opened the scoring for the visitors, Felix said he felt hard done by. "The fans don’t know what happened inside,” he told reporters. “I understand them but I shouldn’t be seen as the bad guy. Even my relationship with Atleti players is very good. What they say from the outside is that I get along badly with my former team-mates, but that’s not true. I was talking to Samuel Lino and [Thomas] Lemar, and everyone who passed by hugged me, they came to talk."

'Barca has always been my first choice'

However, while the reaction to Felix’s return to the Metropolitano with Barca may have been distasteful, it certainly wasn’t surprising. The Portuguese had publicly proclaimed his desire to move to Catalunya long before a season-long loan agreement had been reached with Atleti on the final day of the summer transfer window.

“Barcelona has always been my first choice and I’d love to join Barca,” Felix told Fabrizio Romano last July. “It has always been my dream since I was a kid. If it happens, it will be a dream come true for me."

Such a show of disrespect didn’t just enrage the fans either; the club were also furious, particularly as his come-and-get-me plea had been made in an unsanctioned interview.

So, for Felix to suggest that he was being unfairly maligned was ludicrous - particularly when one considers that there was no muted celebration when he scored against Atleti for Barca at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on December 3. The forward had instead gone ‘full Jude Bellingham’, jumping up onto the advertising hoardings and spreading his arms out wide to bask in the applause of the home crowd.

Felix even acknowledged ahead of last weekend’s return fixture in Madrid that he was certain to get a hostile reception in a “difficult environment” and added that it was actually a source of motivation for him, to silence the home fans. So, how he came to feel wronged by Atleti and their supporters remains a mystery.

The position-less player

But, then, it has ever been thus with Felix. The man is one of the game’s great enigmas, a riddle that nobody has ever really managed to work out, the position-less player desperately searching for the right role.

His superstar potential was obvious at Benfica, but it’s worth remembering that he only played a single season at Estadio da Luz, scoring 20 times in 43 appearances in all competitions, before moving to Madrid - which was such a bizarre decision.

Felix, as he admitted himself, had “several clubs” chasing him, but chose Atletico because he felt that they were offering “the best conditions to progress” his career. He could hardly have been more wrong.

At no point did Felix look anything like a Diego Simeone signing. Here was a player that just wanted to have fun with the ball at his feet, and yet for some reason he joined a team that are often a chore to watch - let alone play for. In Simeone’s world, forwards are very much the first line of defence.

Felix is no Griezmann

Of course, Atleti needed a statement signing after losing Antoine Griezmann to Barcelona, but it quickly became clear that Felix was nowhere near as industrious, intelligent or versatile as the Frenchman.

Even during his best season in Spain, 2021-22, when he was named Atletico’s Player of the Year, it was clear that Simeone wasn’t sold on Felix. "As well as talent, you need to have commitment," he once famously warned. "When a player realises why he is playing for Atletico, only then everything comes together."

It never really happened for Felix, though - not even after Simeone embraced a more adventurous style of play. Consequently, Atleti jumped at the opportunity to re-sign Griezmann, the player that Felix was meant to replace.

Saudi switch on the horizon?

Atletico understandably tried to flog Felix to Chelsea, but not even Todd Boehly & Co. were willing to meet the ridiculous €100m asking price, given his typically inconsistent performances during his six-month loan stay at Stamford Bridge last season. Felix now finds himself in a similar situation at Barcelona.

There have been some flashes of genius, a crucial goal here, an important assist there - but Felix has faded after an encouraging start and now needs a strong finish to the season to have any chance of continuing to live his “dream” in Catalunya.

Barca have made it clear, though, that they will not pay a big fee for Felix - simply because they cannot afford to, on account of the still-precarious nature of their finances. Super-agent Jorge Mendes is still trying to thrash out a deal, but at this stage, only Saudi Pro League clubs would be willing to pay what Atleti are asking for their record signing.

Uncertain future

At the end of the day, Felix has yet to prove his worth, to any team, and one of the primary problems is that it’s hard to know where to put him. He lacks the pace to play out wide and doesn’t score enough to lead the line. He’s conceded himself in the past that he’s “not a goal-scorer”.

Felix has worked well at times as a support striker at Barcelona, playing off Robert Lewandowski - a bit like Paulo Dybala and Romelu Lukaku at Roma - but not many modern coaches play two up top. In the past, Felix may well have flourished as a trequartista, shorn of any defensive responsibilities, but such a role no longer exists. These days, No.10s are expected to not just break down defences but also break up attacks.

So, as Felix joins up with the Portugal squad for friendlies against Sweden and Slovenia, it’s hard to know where he’ll end up after this summer’s Euros. Barca probably won’t have the money to keep him, but Simeone definitely doesn't want him back at the Metropolitano. Atletico will be hoping that he flourishes in Germany to spark some interest, but as it stands, it’s hard to see him starting for the Seleccao in Germany, given Rafael Leao, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota and Goncalo Ramos are far better options to line-up alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in attack.

This feels, then, like a crucial period in Felix’s career. He’s not a teenager anymore. He’s 24 and facing an uncertain future. He doesn’t lack talent - or drive for that matter. After all, he proved Porto wrong by breaking through at Benfica. But it’s going to take some seriously special performances between now and the opening of the transfer market window to convince another top team to put their faith in Felix. Because it’s not just the joy that’s gone from his game. There's now a total lack of trust in it too.