Portuguese forward, Joao Felix has joined Chelsea on loan from Atletico Madrid for remainder of 2022-23 season.
Chelsea have paid a £9.69m loan fee to secure Felix, who has scored just five goals in 20 appearances for Atletico this season, albeit without any option to buy the 23 year-old at end of season after fending off interest from Arsenal for him.
During his time at Atletico, Felix helped the club to 2020-21 La Liga title by two points from their city rivals, Real Madrid, with seven goals in 31 league appearances
Speaking about his loan move to Stamford Bridge, Felix commented: “Chelsea is one of the great teams in the world and I hope to help the team reach their objectives, so I am very, very happy to be here and very excited to play at Stamford Bridge.”
Atletico meanwhile confirmed that Felix had signed an one-season contract extension to his existing deal to keep him at the club until June 2027, plus issued the following statement: “From Atlético de Madrid we wish João Félix every success in this new professional stage.”
Felix could be in contention for his first Chelsea start tomorrow evening (12 January) as the Blues visit Fulham in a rearranged Premier League clash at Craven Cottage, which was postponed in September due to Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
Felix began his career with Benfica where he graduated through their youth academy and helped the Portuguese club to 2018-19 Primeira Liga title with 15 goals in 26 league appearances, in a campaign where he scored 20 goals in 43 appearances across all competitions.
On international stage, Felix has scored just four goals in 28 senior international caps for Portugal, of which his most recent goal came against Ghana in their Group H opener and provided two further assists at 2022 FIFA World Cup en-route to Portugal’s shock Quarter-Final defeat to Morocco.
Felix was also part of Portugal’s victorious squad in 2018-19 UEFA Nations League, despite failing to find the net during that tournament.
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