Unai Emery is a long-time admirer of the Portugal international and has tried to sign him regularly since coming to Aston Villa
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Joao Felix of AC Milan shows his dejection during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between AC Milan and Feyenoord at on February 18, 2025
Joao Felix during AC Milan's clash against Feyenoord(Image: Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Aston Villa retain an interest in Chelsea’s Joao Felix, according to a report.
Website TEAMtalk claims Unai Emery is still keen on the 25-year-old with whom he has been regularly linked since taking over at Villa Park – despite the attacker’s inability to make an impact at Stamford Bridge.
Indeed that is the reason why the story claims the Blues are ‘willing to sell the forward’ in the summer transfer window after making only three Premier League starts following his return to the club.
Felix was on loan at Chelsea from Atletico Madrid for the second half of the 2022/23 campaign and returned on a permanent basis last summer for a reported £46million – despite extensive links with Villa.
He was a bit-part player under Enzo Maresca and was sent to AC Milan in January, for whom he has made seven Serie A appearances and contributed just one assist.
The article reckons Chelsea want to sell Felix but would be amenable to another loan deal and that there is ‘some interest’ in Villa in permanent transfer.
Villa are currently thriving at Champions League level with Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio their keynote signings of the last transfer window – but both are only on loan.
Inevitably there will be speculation about one or other returning to Villa Park but Emery has previously described Felix as a ‘special’ player while Monchi went on the record in January to further confirm Emery’s admiration, saying: "He is a player with a lot of quality and Emery has been able to recover players who were considered lost in his history as a coach, and he trusts in João’s talent."
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