Real reason why Man City, Man Utd rejected chance to sign €80m Chelsea flop revealed
A report from Spain has revealed the reason why Manchester City and Manchester United rejected the chance to sign Joao Felix in the summer.
The Portugal international spent the second half of last season on loan with Chelsea and despite showing flashes of brilliance, never really lived up to the hype.
Felix made 20 appearances in all competitions for the Blues, scoring four goals in the process. Mauricio Pochettino wasn’t interested in signing him permanently.
He ultimately signed for Barcelona on a season-long loan this summer, but Felix’s agent was trying his best to get him a move back to the Premier League.
As previously reported by TEAMtalk, Man City were offered the chance to sign Felix, along with Man Utd. Aston Villa reached an agreement to sign him, too, but it ultimately collapsed.
Now, the reason for why Man City and Man Utd snubbed the opportunity to bring the 23-year-old in has been revealed.
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Man City, Man Utd snubbed chance to sign Felix
According to Spanish outlet AS, Man City and Man Utd decided against a move for Felix due to his ‘bad experience at Chelsea.’
As mentioned, he only scored four goals during his brief stint at Stamford Bridge. His lacklustre form saw his once sky-high reputation fall even further and put off the Premier League rivals, who were ‘contacted’ by his agent Jorge Mendes about a possible move.
Atletico Madrid were happy to part ways with Felix again this summer due to his poor relationship with manager Diego Simeone – which is why he was allowed to join LaLiga rivals Barcelona.
There have been claims that Felix took a huge wage cut to make his ‘dream’ move to Barca, too. The attacker will earn just £342,000 this season, as per a report cited by the Daily Mail in September.
Atletico are hoping that the Portuguese star will reignite his form this season so that they can sell him for a fee in the region of €80m (approx. £69.3m) next summer.
Felix has made seven appearances for Barcelona so far, scoring three goals and making two assists.