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FC Barcelona could complete the signing of Joao Felix this week, according to AS.
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FC Barcelona could complete the signing of Joao Felix this week according to AS, with his club Atletico Madrid open to a deal following explosive comments he made to Fabrizio Romano on Tuesday evening.
Felix sent shockwaves through Spanish football when telling the Italian transfer market expert: “I’d love to play for Barca,” as part of an exclusive.
“Barcelona has always been my first choice and I’d love to join Barca,” the 23-year-old added.
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“It was always my dream since I was a kid. If it happens, it will be a dream come true for me,” he then finished.
Felix’s comments came as no surprise to those that had read a report from AS at the weekend.
It explained how he longed for a move to Catalonia, which was described as an “impossible dream”.
Felix’s current employers Atletico, who paid the number 11’s boyhood outfit Benfica €126 million ($141.5 million) for his services in 2019, didn’t waste time reacting to his remarks to Romano through the Spanish media.
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MARCA reported that the club from the capital found the short interview “unprofessional and disrespectful”.
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Atleti additionally said that the player’s agent Jorge Mendes “knows perfectly the conditions that must be given so that the Portuguese can leave the club” before stating that it will not add any further comment on the matter.
With several clients on Barca’s books such as Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde, Mendes is a close associate of the Catalans’ president and public Felix-admirer Joan Laporta.
At present, it is believed by Mundo Deportivo that the duo is working on a possible deal that would bring Manchester City star Bernardo Silva to Xavi Hernandez’s La Liga title-defending squad in 2023/2024.
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Filmed in a car on Monday evening, Laporta said he “would like” to sign Silva and revealed in a January interview with RAC 1 that Mendes knows he likes Felix “very much”.
“He’s a great player, I love him. It is true that there was an opportunity to make an exchange with Griezmann. It was tried, but Atletico Madrid does not want to part with him” Laporta added.
Not long after Laporta’s appearance on RAC 1, AS reported how Barca also came close to landing Felix in the January 2022 transfer window only for Financial Fair Play to get in the way.
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According to the same publication half a year on, however, Felix’s dream “seems to be closer than ever to being fulfilled” with Atletico having given the green light to a possible loan with an option to buy.
Even amid their economic woes and difficulties navigating those same Financial Fair Play Limits, Barca have allegedly crunched the numbers and made them work on a possible deal that would be a huge coup for Xavi’s men.
With Felix “very excited” about the possibility of switching allegiances, the operation “may come to fruition throughout this week” according to AS.
