Joao Felix has been linked with a shock move to another Premier League club after just five months at Chelsea.
Felix, 25, joined the Blues from La Liga outfit Atletico Madrid in August 2024 for a fee of £46.3m and penned a seven-year deal according to Sky Sports.
This season, he has struggled to maintain a positive run of form having scored seven goals in 20 appearances with just one coming in the Premier League.
He was recently omitted from Saturday’s 3-1 defeat against Manchester City at the Etihad and was afforded ‘compassionate leave’ following a family bereavement.
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Given Chelsea’s strength in forward areas, Felix has struggled to secure a regular starting place in the league and, as a result, has had to settle for appearances from the start in other competitions – namely the Europa Conference League
Now, it has emerged that Felix could be set to move on from the west London-based side as another Premier League side have shown ‘interest’.
Just last month, journalist Fabrizio Romano told GiveMeSport: "Joao has just arrived on a permanent deal four months ago, I don't see Chelsea changing their stance on Joao in January.
"At the moment, the situation is completely quiet."
However, this has seemingly changed as the end of the transfer window nears.
Who could Joao Felix join?
On Monday evening, Romano took to X issuing an update on Felix's future.
“Aston Villa, one of several clubs monitoring João Félix situation ahead of the final days of the window,” wrote Romano. “His agent Jorge Mendes, talking to many clubs as reported last week.”
This is not the first time he has been linked with a move to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa. Before he joined Chelsea last summer he was tipped to join the Birmingham-based side. However, no deal materialised on that occasion.
Although Emery, 53, referred to the Portuguese as a “special player” when speaking back in March 2023.
“He’s a special player and it was not totally impossible for us (to sign him), but he wanted to play for a team in the Champions League,” Emery said. “We are realistic about how we can improve and how we can add players to improve our squad. He has a high salary and Chelsea paid a lot of money for that.
“I like him, but we were never really in the running for him. He can assist, score goals, drop deep to build up and he can play in the small spaces and drive into the box. He’s special."
Football Italia also reports that Villa are facing competition from AC Milan who are looking to sign the player on loan.
Topics: Chelsea, Joao Felix, Premier League, Transfer News, Football, Atletico Madrid, La Liga, Champions League
Luke Davies