Chelsea have offered to sign Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid. The English Premier League club are ready to pay around €11million (£9.7m) for Felix's registration and cover the Portugal international's salary until the end of the current season, meeting the conditions set last month by Atletico chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin for a short-term deal.
Record Sport understands that Chelsea are also working to include an option to buy the unsettled forward in the loan agreement. Felix - whose relationship with Atleti coach Diego Simeone has deteriorated to the point where he considers an exit essential to his career – is keen to join the London club and has already told team-mates that he is moving to England.
Atletico are holding off on formalising the loan to Chelsea as they explore alternative options for Felix. Both Arsenal and Manchester United are in the market for attacking reinforcements as the Premier League nears its halfway point, but have yet to meet the financial terms sought by the Spanish club.
Chelsea are also in competition with Arsenal to sign another forward, Ukraine international Mykhaylo Mudryk, in the current window. Shakhtar Donetsk have placed a value of “higher than €100m” on the 21-year-old and are aware that Todd Boehly-fronted consortium that owns Chelsea are ready to outbid their London rivals on transfer fee and salary.
Despite committing a Premier League record sum to transfer fees in the summer window and investing heavily in hiring coach Graham Potter and multiple support staff from Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea have fallen to 10th in the division. Currently 10 points adrift of a Champions League qualifying place, they were eliminated from a second domestic cup competition by Manchester City on Sunday following a 4-0 FA Cup loss.
Felix joined Atletico for a club-record transfer fee of €126m in the summer of 2019. The 23-year-old has been unhappy at the Estadio Metropolitano for well over a year, struggling with Simeone's man management and conservative tactical approach. Last month, Gil Marin publicly acknowledged the problem.
"The reasonable thing is to think that he is leaving, although I would love him to continue,” said Gil Marin. “But that is not the player's idea. He is the biggest bet the club has made. I think he has the highest level in the world, but because of his relationship with the coach, the minutes played, his motivation...the reasonable thing to do is to consider his departure if an offer comes in".
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