last christmas Diego Pablo Simeon He managed to pull ‘Comando Mendes’ out of the locker room, Luso-Brazilian group of players that manager Jorge Mendes placed at Atlético with the complicity of Miguel Ángel Gil Marín. Joao Félix, Mateus Cunha and Felipe ceased to be players of the rojiblanca team. Joao Félix, whom the British call the “big fish” in the market, was “planted” in Chelsea by American billionaire Todd Boehly, as the last two traveled to Wolverhampton and Nottingham Woods, which Mendes made and took back. this Tuesday he will try to overcome the draw with Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Boehly’s penultimate card
Joao has landed in London with an eclectic roster of players from various projects, requests from coaches who are no longer there, and newly purchased stickers by their new owners. Since that time The Portuguese had three coaches, played 13 matches and scored only two goals. While this is happening, Atlético has not lost a single game since leaving and is threatening to give Real Madrid the second-place ‘sorpasso’ in the League with a glorious Griezmann who freed himself after Portugal’s departure.
Felix’s arrival in London was accompanied by good omens. Chelsea’s interest in negotiating their latest transfer quickly leaked. It’s the rumor that expands Mendes’ machine, wrought by solvency in the offices of clubs as well as in the newsrooms of the media. However The truth is, Joao has few options for staying at Stamford Bridge for several reasons: First, it’s affordable. The player cost Atlético 126 million and the rojiblanco club plans to get back as much money as possible with his departure by pricing his transfer at 100 million. Here in London they warn that they will by no means pay more than 80 million, given the over 600 ‘kicks’ payouts the club has already made. At best, Londoners would consider including one of their discards in a possible operation: Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Kalidou Koulibaly or Edouard Mendy. Option that Atlético has not considered for now
From Joao Félix to Joao ‘Greedy’
The second reason is that the Portuguese midfielder has moved away from his new fans and the locker room. The arrival of Joao Félix condemned Mason Mount, one of the few native players on the team, to a substitution. the idol of the stands that could not be beaten and was predicted to eventually go to Liverpool. And also, Joao Félix has been noted by colleagues and journalists for his extreme individuality. in games where he can assist teammates who are better off and who aren’t. The eagerness to come forward has mortgaged clear scoring chances or caused losses that led to the second visitor’s goal against Brighton last weekend and Chelsea’s defeat. Add to this the loss against Tottenham, the draw against Everton and two more clearly against Fulham…
The Portuguese player never looks up when he receives the ball, and this annoys his teammates like Sterling, who are fed up with him and come to get his attention. Joao Félix is what they call ‘Greedy’ in England. and in Spain it is known as ‘chupón’. Joao changed Felix to ‘Greedy’…
The Portuguese have shot more than three goals in every game since joining Chelsea. 43 shots in 13 games, only 2 of which hit the net. He needs 398 minutes to score, and add to this frustrating stat another piece of information that confirms his nickname: He hasn’t assisted yet. Moreover, The Portuguese player is also famous for being “soft” because he is reluctant to be challenged when faced with physical defenders. And the first playthrough of the game at the Bernabéu is worth an example: a pass from Ngolo Kanté allowed him to stand alone against Courtois, but seeing how Militao looked like a buffalo he just didn’t have the personality to do so. which stopped and eventually missed a resounding event.
And to all this was added some explanations of the Portuguese who burned all the bridges to Atlético. As soon as Félix arrived in London, he spoke of Cholo to the Portuguese ‘Eleven Sports’ chain: “The way Simeone competes is basically to suffer on the field. To suffer is to have an opportunity and mark it. This is his way of competing. Not bad but different from other trainers. Chelsea is a team that likes to attack, they have the ball, they dominate the game. I like to play like this. I feel very free playing here. Not satisfied with this, he also spared a few words to bed fans confirming that he has no intention of returning to the Metropolitan: “I spent three years at Atlético and I didn’t have any songs. There was already one here in the first game.”
Nkunku closes the door
In the ‘blue’ team, there is one more detail that closes the door for Joao Félix. Chelsea signed Red Bull Leipzig’s German striker Christopher Nkunku and paid $70 million for him. Last December, the French will arrive next summer as the offensive benchmark for the Londoners. One thing that doesn’t worry Joao, who shouldn’t have quite planned on staying in London, he doesn’t even seem to have brought his favorite car, a BMW X4m with all the extras for the 112,000 Euros he left in Madrid. For the English capital, he has a car that Chelsea has given him in addition to the £250,000 a week he pays until June. One million a month.
In recent weeks, the Mendes mechanism has done its job and the tabloids are talking about his interest in Joao Félix, a club with which Manchester United has been linked several times. But in reality Atlético did not put a firm bid for Portugal on the table. Something that would surprise the rojiblancos leaders if it happens. The problem is They don’t want to see Simeone’s face in the summer, nor do they want to continue seeing her in blue in London. And at 23, he is too young to go to Saudi Arabia. Or maybe not…