{"id":626234,"date":"2023-08-07T09:51:46","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T13:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=626234"},"modified":"2023-08-07T09:51:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T13:51:46","slug":"joao-felix-atletico-madrid-al-hilal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/08\/07\/joao-felix-atletico-madrid-al-hilal\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;He Will Not Stay&#8217; Future Remains Uncertain for \u00a3108 million Man, He Wants Barcelona Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Joao Felix has not had the career that he was expecting to have as a Benfica academy product and Atletico Madrid star who made his La Liga debut at only 19 years old. Now, at 23 years old, the player has the opportunity to decide where he plays next.<\/p>\n<p>Journalist <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1688282557555638272?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fabrizio Romano<\/a> posted an update on the contest to attain the Portuguese man&#8217;s services. Saudi club Al Hilal have entered the fray; preparing to offer a one-year loan, pending the Spanish club&#8217;s response to an expected bid. One thing is certain according to the Italian and that is &#8220;he will NOT stay at Atleti&#8221;.<\/p>\n<h2>Joao Felix Wants to Leave Atletico Madrid<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Al Hilal approached Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix \ud83d\udea8\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n<p>Saudi side prepared to offer even 1 year loan; player decides.<\/p>\n<p>Understand Jorge Jesus called Jo\u00e3o several times.<\/p>\n<p>Player\u2019s priority remains Barcelona and Europe.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026but Al Hilal becomes option as one thing is sure: he will NOT stay at Atl\u00e9ti. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Q3dQaZnbY2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Q3dQaZnbY2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1688282557555638272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 6, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Al Hilal Offering More than Just Money<\/h3>\n<p>Aside from a much-desired reprise from his stay in Madrid, the Saudi club are coached by Portuguese Jorge Jesus, the former coach of Felix at Benfica. Romano&#8217;s report even revealed that Jesus had called the forward several times already, presumably to convince him to join him in the Saudi Pro League.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/08\/06\/barcelona-face-bernardo-silva-blow\/\" target=\"_self\">\u2018I Understand\u2019: Fabrizio Romano Reveals Major Blow to Barcelona Hopes of Signing \u2018Unbelievable\u2019 Target<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Familiarity, plus an opportunity to leave his current club might be too good for the 23-year-old to say no to. Currently, the player who can be fielded as a winger, forward, and attacking midfielder is under contract with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/news\/11095\/12783735\/joao-felix-chelsea-sign-atletico-madrid-and-portugal-forward-on-loan\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atletico<\/a> until 2027, and spent the second half of last season on loan at Chelsea.<\/p>\n<h3>Felix Prefers European Stay<\/h3>\n<p>With plenty of time left to recover from his failure to live up to huge expectations, Felix wants a transfer to another European club before a move away from the continent. A potential suitor could be found much closer than Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>Last month a move to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/tomsanderson\/2023\/07\/19\/fc-barcelona-could-complete-joao-felix-transfer-this-week-as-atletico-madrid-give-green-light-reports\/?sh=69131f415cab\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barcelona<\/a> looked to be all setup, but it was not completed. The forward still wants a move to Barcelona and values the European football they can offer him. A former UEFA Nations League winner with Portugal, the young player wants another big trophy.<\/p>\n<h3>Too Many Expectations to Shake off<\/h3>\n<p>During his time with the Colchoneros, a club that has made several UEFA Champions League finals but never won one, his performances always seemed to mirror that of the club itself. Constantly overshadowed by their larger neighbours Real Madrid, Atletico failed to clinch a title with Felix.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2023\/08\/05\/ousmane-dembele-close-signing-paris-saint-germain\/\" target=\"_self\">\u2018World-Class\u2019 Star Close to Joining Paris Saint-Germain After \u2018Private\u2019 Clause Activated \u2013 Romano<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With constant pressure weighing down on him, the Portugal man&#8217;s time in La Liga has been so fraught with demands for his performances to be on the level of the best of Europe&#8217;s stars that his loan to Chelsea, much like a potential permanent move, was a relief for him. Maybe at his next home, he can live up to the \u00a3108 million price tag paid for him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Featured Image<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_625163\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-625163\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-625163 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/07\/Barcelona-Spotify-Camp-Nou-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Aerial view of Barcelona's Camp Nou - Bernardo Silva\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/07\/Barcelona-Spotify-Camp-Nou-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/07\/Barcelona-Spotify-Camp-Nou-1024x665.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/07\/Barcelona-Spotify-Camp-Nou-768x499.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/07\/Barcelona-Spotify-Camp-Nou.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-625163\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nou Camp by Kafuffle: https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/oh-barcelona\/3795281086 CC by SA 2: https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q19125117<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joao Felix has not had the career that he was expecting to have as a Benfica academy product and Atletico Madrid star who made his La Liga debut at only 19 years old. Now, at 23 years old, the player has the opportunity to decide where he plays next. Journalist Fabrizio Romano posted an update [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4764,"featured_media":625163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"1691280000","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"Felix Transfer Potential","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"300","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1365,7188],"tags":[210,3290,2118],"class_list":["post-626234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-liga","category-barcelona","category-rumours","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-joao-felix","tag-saudi-arabia"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}