“It’s not easy, but negotiations continue”

Aston Villa are keeping tabs on Joao Felix, the ‘forgotten second Cristiano Ronaldo’.

“Villa are keeping in touch with the player as he is a dream signing for manager Unai Emery,” transfer market journalist Fabrizio Romano wrote on social media on Thursday.

Felix was touted as the next Ronaldo during his time at Benfica. He impressed with 20 goals and 11 assists in 43 games across all competitions for Benfica in the 2018/19 season. Felix broke the record for the youngest hat-trick in UEFA Europa League history (19 years, 152 days) when he scored a hat-trick in the first leg of the quarterfinals against Eintracht Frankfurt.

In the summer of 2019, Felix moved to AT Madrid. AT Madrid paid a club-record €127.2 million ($190.3 million) to acquire Felix.

Contrary to expectations, Felix didn’t fit in at AT Madrid. He showed flashes of brilliance every time he appeared on the pitch, but he was frequently injured. In the 2022/23 season, he publicly feuded with coach Diego Simeone over his playing time.

After spending the second half of the 2022/23 season on loan at Chelsea, Felix was loaned to FC Barcelona ahead of last season. The process was anything but tidy. In July of last year, Felix said, “I want to join Barcelona. Barcelona has always been 카지노 커뮤니티 my first choice,” he said last July, shocking the world. He even took a 90% pay cut to go to Barcelona.

Since joining Barcelona, Felix has scored 10 goals and provided six assists in 44 games in the 2023/24 season. He was at the center of controversy for his post-goal celebration against AT Madrid. He dreamed of moving to Barcelona outright, but the Catalans are focused on Spain international Nico Williams, not Felix.

A new club has emerged that wants him. It’s Villa. Villa finished fourth in the league in the 2023/24 season and qualified for the UEFA Champions League. Coach Emery wants to bring Felix to the club.

However, it’s unclear if Villa will be able to keep him. Felix’s contract with AT Madrid runs until 2029, and the club will likely demand a high price for the player, given the huge transfer fee they spent to sign him.