According to Diario Sport, Aston Villa have officially began negotiations with Atletico Madrid to sign Joao Felix.
🤝El Aston Villa negocia ya con Joao Félix y el Barça no entra en la puja
— Diario SPORT (@sport) July 24, 2024
➡️El club inglés, dispuesto a pagar un traspaso alto por petición de Unai Emery
➡️El club blaugrana ya no prioriza la continuidad del portuguéshttps://t.co/yNz06i82yP
The tweet reads: 'Aston Villa is already negotiating with Joao Felix and Barca is not bidding' and 'The English club, willing to pay a high transfer at the request of Unai Emery'.
Felix is believed to be the dream target for Emery and Aston Villa and with Barcelona unlikely to bid for the player it opens up the real possibility to the Portuguese star moving to Villa Park.
Felix signed for Atletico Madrid in 2019 when aged 19 for a fee of £113 million. This remains the fourth highest transfer fee in football history. Fast forward five years and Felix's career hasn't yet hit the expected heights.
With years of experience of scoring goals at the top level in Spain and in the Champions League, Felix would certainly bring a significant level of ability to the Villa squad. He spent last season on loan at Barcelona and scored 10 goals across all competitions.
The potential signing of Felix has been received with mixed reactions with some believing that Emery can get the best out of the player whilst some worry there must be something that has stopped him from being the world class player he was tipped to be a few years ago.
Why are so many Villa ‘fans’ obsessed with Joao Felix? Just don’t get it.
— 3rd Eye Rugby (@GreggMac11) July 22, 2024
Decent player but definitely not the messiah a lot of them think he is
As a Villa fan, I would not want us to sign #joaofelix - the player has such a bad attitude and obviously thinks way too much of himself. In my opinion, he would only destroy the current squad atmosphere and make things worse. Let him go to the Saudi league. #avfc #utv #vtid
— Gary🦁 (@GMP4AVFC) August 8, 2023
Emery and Aston Villa seem to be chasing after #JoaoFelix. He is a talent. The word mercurial applies to him. If Emery gets him and has him working well with Watkins and Bailey, it will be something.
— Football and others (@fb_and_others) July 24, 2024
The negotiations are likely to develop quickly if a deal is to be agreed. Emery will want Felix to join as soon as possible so he has time to integrate with the squad and get up to speed ahead of an exciting campaign for Villa as a club.
UTV