Sport
It’s now or never for Joao Felix to deliver on his astronomic potential
Few clubs in world football can boast an academy with the productivity rate of Benfica. Youth development and selling for profit has become the foundation of their entire philosophy, and the rate with which they promote another gem is genuinely impressive. Their most rewarding example, at least strictly in terms of finances, is Joao Felix, a player who appeared to have the world at his feet.
For Felix, the Estadio da Luz, or Stadium of Light in English, was aptly named. As a teenager, he shone, quickly attracting interest from Europe’s elite. He appeared to be the sort of player to inspire those around him, taking games by the scruff of the neck thanks to his creativity and vision on the ball; initially deployed in a 4-4-2 alongside a more target-like figure in Haris Seferovic and that allowed him to thrive, dropping off into pockets and causing teams all sorts of problems.
By the time he became the youngest player to score a Europa League hat-trick aged just 19 and 152 days against Eintracht Frankfurt in April 2019, it was a question of where he would go rather than if he would leave Benfica. His quality had seen him draw comparisons with another of the club’s former favourites and current president, Rui Costa, and there were even some suggestions he could be heir apparent to Cristiano Ronaldo in becoming Portugal’s talisman.
Over time, Felix had shown his versatility in being able to play as a striker or a winger, but he clearly felt most at home as a modern playmaker. This has become a bit of a problem for him throughout his career, with tactical trends more or less eradicating that position; he has been forced to adapt, becoming something of a jack of all trades, master of none. Seeing this development will have made his next move crucial, and on the face of it, joining Atletico Madrid for €126m, the second highest fee for a teenager in history behind Kylian Mbappe, felt like a good fit. Though that transfer fee weighed heavily, not joining one of the traditionally top clubs felt like a smaller step, and there was a void in the squad for him to fill in Diego Simeone’s 4-4-2 after Antoine Griezmann’s move to Barcelona that same summer.
But it wasn’t a seamless transition. Felix was used sparingly by a coach with arguably the most rigid and specific demands in football, and often on the wing instead of up front. The relationship between player and coach never solidified, and Simeone wasn’t impressed by Felix’s perceived lax attitude. There was method in Simeone’s ‘madness’; Felix had been in the spotlight off the back of just a few months of top level football, and the pressure of expectation was already huge. Simeone thought the price tag would only intensify that, but because there was never trusted to the same level he had been at Benfica, he never thrived. Perhaps Simeone wasn’t the right coach to get the best out of him, and although he won a La Liga title in 2021, when he departed for Chelsea on loan in January 2023, it felt like a clean break.
Because of Felix’s promise as a young player, there was still a lot of reward in signing him and big clubs have never really ignored that opportunity. But what has followed has been a disaster for his development; Chelsea signed him at a time when there were too many incomings and once again he wasn’t trusted in his best position. After that initial loan spell, he went to Barcelona, another club who were trying to figure themselves out amid financial issues; at both places, he was a square peg in a round hole, before returning to Chelsea last summer as a pawn in a deal for Conor Gallagher to sign for Atleti. His involvement offered little more than a route around Profit and Sustainability Rules. He signed a stunning seven-year contract at Stamford Bridge before scoring once in 12 Premier League games and joining AC Milan in January.
Yet another big club are hoping they can finally see Felix hit the heights his astonishing impact at Benfica promised, but the early signs aren’t great. He is yet to score for the Rossoneri and isn’t a regular fixture in the side. There is a lot to love about his game, the carefree arrogance he can bring and the crucial moments he can have, but he is now 25, approaching his peak and no longer a youngster breaking the mould. It is getting to the time where he simply needs to deliver, or else he will drift away as another career filled with questions of what might have been.
Is the San Siro, where Rui Costa once starred, the place where Joao Felix begins his great resurgence? He needs to make sure it is; it would be a shame for his first six months in professional football, when he looked capable of taking over the world, to be as good as it gets.
