“We weren’t in the running to sign Joao Felix because it was very difficult to convince one player like him,” said Unai Emery, unusually boldly. “Because, now, he’s better than us.”
This was March 2023 and Aston Villa were aiming, in Emery’s words, for a top-10 finish. Relegation fears had been arrested and Villa, albeit tentatively and in the nascent stages of ‘Project Emery’, were looking upwards.
The Spaniard was a significant advocate of Joao Felix, unlike his manager at Atletico Madrid, Diego Simeone, and had wanted to sign him two months earlier.
Villa, though, could not offer the financial package or the Champions League aspirations Joao Felix desired. He instead pivoted to Chelsea, joining on a six-month loan that would flatter to deceive. It was a sign of Emery’s ambitions not quite correlating to where Villa stood.
“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.
“Our idea is to reduce the distance between them (a club such as Chelsea) and to get closer to them in one, two or three years. Spending money like they did? No! But trying to be consistent and get there another way in our work.”
Joao Felix struggled at Chelsea after arriving in January 2023 (Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
It is a compliment to Villa that, just 16 months later, the wagons have circled Joao Felix again and with greater confidence in the 24-year-old jumping on. That “distance” Emery talked about has been reduced.
The departure of Moussa Diaby, who has finalised a €60million (£50.6m; $65.3m) deal with Al Ittihad, has brazened the desire for Joao Felix or a similarly high-quality talent who can dovetail just behind Ollie Watkins.
Joao Felix views his best position as a No 10, despite recent years playing as a false nine or on either flank. And with Emery being a manager who has a highly defined remit for his No 10s — one source close to a player who plays in that position, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, describes the precision the manager expects out of possession as “detailed beyond belief” — Joao Felix would have a firm backer.
This has not been the case since his £113million arrival at Atletico Madrid in July 2019. Simeone’s disciplinarian and tactically restrictive style was at odds with the expression of the then 19-year-old, while the faith from Atletico’s deeper institution and hierarchy appeared shallow. And even when Joao Felix joined Barcelona last summer on loan, the move was pushed by president Joan Laporta and not head coach Xavi, who was known to have serious doubts over the player’s work rate.
Atletico would prefer to sell Joao Felix than loan him out again, banking as much of the £113m they bought him for as possible. Two loans away have done little to repair the schisms in the stylistic mismatch between the player and Simeone’s authoritarian ways.
“He was always talented, (but) it is difficult for him to run meters back,” said Simeone last November. “Anything that happens well for Joao, we will be happy at Atletico because it will be better for the club.”
A permanent cutting of ties is felt to be needed, though there remains three years left on his contract. Atletico expect him to return for their pre-season training next week after his involvement with Portugal’s European Championship squad and discussions will continue with his agent, Jorge Mendes, over his future.
Villa’s wages-to-turnover ratio — the percentage of money spent on employees’ salaries — stood at 89 per cent in 2022 and 2023, the fourth-highest in the Premier League. Diaby’s exit along with Champions League riches and further player sales would allow room for manoeuvre in Villa’s wage and transfer budget.
Expendable squad members, including Lucas Digne or Alex Moreno, Leander Dendoncker and Jhon Duran, would free up funds for a Felix-calibre player as well as other positions being targeted, with a right-back not out of the question.
Duran’s delayed return for pre-season comes after Colombia reached the Copa America final and a decision on his future will be made, with West Ham United among those interested. Duran is a technically precocious talent, but issues have been raised regarding his attitude and aloofness.
Albeit higher profile, Joao Felix finds himself in a similar predicament to Duran: a unique talent with a distinct on-pitch personality that is not in keeping with the formulaic nature of the modern game. Although Emery, despite being deeply systematic in his principles, does allow attacking licence in certain areas of the pitch. Last season, for example, only five Premier League teams completed more take-ons.
Joao Felix’s penalty miss against France cost Portugal dear at the Euros (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Emery’s body of work with developing No 10s at Villa is obvious. January signing Morgan Rogers flourished quicker than he or the club anticipated, while Jacob Ramsey, John McGinn and Youri Tielemans have all been repackaged and refined to operate between the lines. As an aside, Joao Felix wants to take penalties for his club team — a void Villa will need to fill following the departure of Douglas Luiz to Juventus.
Both parties have options on the table. Villa have other targets while the Portugal international has a return to Benfica or Barcelona as a possibility — although Barca have a €100million hole in their 2023-24 accounts, which means they can’t sign anyone or even register some of their own players at present.
Regardless, Joao Felix is a continued option and marks Villa’s elevated standing. There may be doubts about a player who has toiled to rediscover his early career form but, as is the case with most of the targets he pushes to sign, Emery is confident of recalibrating Joao Felix.
(Top photo: David S.Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
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