Atletico Madrid confirm Chelsea intention not to sign Joao Felix

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has revealed Chelsea have no plans of signing Portugal international Joao Felix following the expiration of the player’s loan deal.

Felix joined the Blues during the January transfer window after falling out with Diego Simeone at the La Liga club and a short-term deal with Chelsea under the tutelage of Graham Potter.

The 23-year-old scored four goals across all competitions for Chelsea including the consolation goal in the 4-1 defeat to Manchester United in their penultimate Premier League game,

However, Cerezo says the budding forward is not part of Chelsea’s long-term plans under Mauricio Pochettino, who was recently appointed.

“Yesterday we had the news that the new Chelsea manager does not [want] Felix,” he told Spanish outlet AS.

“We’ve known for less than 24 hours. He’ll come back here and we’ll see. We don’t have anything planned.”

Felix became the fifth most expensive footballer in history when Atletico Madrid paid Benfica £113 million for him in 2019.

He went on to score 34 goals in 131 appearances across all competitions, helping them win the 2020-21 La Liga title.