Barcelona could scarcely be more enamoured with Joao Felix so far, after just 142 minutes, he has hit the ground sprinting. Both of the games the Portuguese talent has started ended with 5-0 victories for the Blaugrana, and Felix has been at the heart of those performances, with three goals and one assist too.
Felix joined Barcelona on the last day of the transfer window on loan from Atletico Madrid. There have been a number of reports that Felix took a large wage cut in order to make the move happen.
“Yes, the truth is, I gave up a significant amount of money from my salary. But well, I needed to change, I needed to go to a place where I could play my football and as I said, I always believed that this would be the ideal place. Things are going well and I had to make that effort to find joy playing again,” he told MD.
Some outlets have even suggested that Felix will earn as ‘little’ as €400k this season, a reduction that would likely be somewhere between 15 and 20 times lower than his wages at Atletico.
Felix mentions joy, and has certainly cut a disillusioned figure at Atletico over the past 12 months while he was there.
“That is clear to everyone, football is like that, whoever is not doing well has to change places. I did it before for Chelsea and I have done it now for Barcelona because I was not doing well there, I did not adapt to the ideas of the club and the coach, but I have always tried to do the best I could and I have had very good times there too.”
Felix now has the challenge of maintaining his form. At Atletico, there were spells during which it appeared he would make things work with Simeone, and upon arrival at Chelsea, he was very good too. However those purple patches have been all too occasional for the top level of the game, and this spell at Barcelona could go a long way to shaping his perception in the eyes of future employers.
