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Aston Villa are interested in a former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid star
Aston Villa are expected to return to the table with a fresh effort to sign Portuguese international Joao Felix in the summer, with AC Milan’s stance on a potential deal also being revealed.
After a mixed loan spell in the second half of the 2022/23 season, the former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid forward agreed to return to Chelsea for a figure of £46.3m.
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Despite strong interest from Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side at the time the 25-year-old decided Stamford Bridge would be the best place to develop his talents as he signed a seven-year-contract with the West London club.
Guardian Sport reported in the summer of 2024 that Villa had wanted to use the £50.6m gained from Moussa Diaby’s exit to help facilitate a move for the 2019 Golden Boy winner, and while the West Midlands side were unsuccessful at the time in their quest to land the Portuguese international, reports from TEAMtalkclaim that interest has not gone away from Unai Emery’s perspective.
Aston Villa target Joao Felix as renewed interest claim made
TEAMtalk understands that Joao Felix has been deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge after failing to nail down a place in the first team. The attacker made 20 appearances in the first half of the season for Chelsea and scored seven times while providing two assists. However, he was largely limited to outings in cup competitions with only three of his starts coming in the Premier League as both Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson were preferred in the number 10 and centre forward positions.
In a shock turn of events after just six months, Chelsea decided to loan Felix out to AC Milan. Commenting on the decision, Enzo Maresca said: "He has been very good with us. Just a matter of my decision (why he didn't play as much as he did). The reason why, we need defensive balance. When you have so many attacking players, you can concede and I don't like that. We decided altogether that it was a good option to leave. He never complained..."
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Chelsea are believed to be keen to sell Felix in the summer and Villa, who have already benefited from signing out-of-favour talents like Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio on loan in January, are believed to be keen on a permanent deal to restore the player’s fortunes and give him a proper run of games in the Premier League.
Felix’s wages are an issue for Villa, however, as they also weigh up permanent deals for Rashford and hugely impressive Asensio. Rashford has a permanent clause in his deal which can be activated for £40m while Emery’s men would have to agree a fee to prise Spaniard Asensio away from the French capital.
AC Milan stance on Joao Felix revealed
Joao Felix, who once cost Atletico Madrid around £113m, in what remains the fourth biggest transfer in football history, has played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs including Barcelona, Benfica and Chelsea.
He is currently on loan at AC Milan but is once again struggling to live up to expectations, scoring just one goal and managing a single assist in 10 appearances across all competitions.
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Milan are not expected to try to sign Felix on a permanent deal. Milan’s finances are tight and given they are ninth in Serie A, Champions League football next season is looking doubtful. They also don’t feel they have seen enough from a player, whose loan deal cost the club around £5m.
Read More:Aston Villa's mighty Champions League prize money haul so far - and how much more they can still win