Atletico Madrid have reportedly rejected Manchester United 's mega bid worth around £110million for star Joao Felix.
The 22-year-old forward has emerged as a target for the Red Devils, who're haplessly scrambling to sign a number of players before the summer transfer window closes in just 15 days' time But Atletico won't part ways with Felix easily, having paid a club-record £112m for him only three years ago.
According to AS, the ex- Benfica starlet has been the subject of an extravagant offer from United, having scored the winning goal against Erik ten Hag 's side in a pre-season friendly between the two heavyweight clubs last month. Atletico, however, want to keep hold of Felix and are standing firm at his eye-watering £295m release clause, which even a desperate Red Devils board would refuse to entertain.
The Portugal international also doesn't want to leave the Spanish capital, as the report describes him as happy with Los Rojiblancos. Feeling that now is the time to justify his transfer fee after struggling to prove himself over the past three campaigns, the Felix is raring to go.
"I'm happy, I'm working to help the team, give joy to the club and all the people of Atleti," the versatile attacker recently told AS. The other years I always tried to be better. If this is my year, I don’t know. It depends, we don't know about the future. But what I can assure you is that I am doing my best to be at the best level so that I can help the team and the club.
"I arrived here young, I'm still young but I've already grown a lot and I'm sure to grow more. And I'm fine. I'm happy. I have a calm head and when so, things go naturally and let’s hope things are good. With [Antoine] Griezmann, with Alvaro [Morata], with [Matheus] Cunha, with Angel [Correa]. We all get along well and on the field, the team is doing great."
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If his start to the new La Liga season is anything to go by, Felix will do just that. In a 3-0 victory over Getafe on Monday, the Portuguese prodigy set up all three of Atletico's goals. His outstanding display on the road means that he only needs three more assists to equal his best tally since linking up with Diego Simeone and co in the summer of 2019.
Felix's impressive curtain-raiser follows a strong end to last term, notably scoring a fine header against United in their Champions League last-16 first-leg clash. He'll next be in action when Atletico welcome to Villarreal to the Wanda Metropolitano on Sunday - unless he shocks us all with a mega-money move to Old Trafford.
