Enzo Fernandez tells Chelsea to sign Joao Felix

Stuart Telford

• 25 Feb 2023 10:40 GMT
• 3 min read

Enzo Fernandez and Joao Felix have struck up a quick understanding at Chelsea, and the former hopes the latter's loan deal from Atletico Madrid is made permanent at the end of the season.

Fernandez and Felix both joined Chelsea in January; Fernandez from Benfica for a British record €121 million and Felix on a loan deal that still set the Blues back €11m.

Fernandez assisted Felix's first goal in Chelsea 1-1 draw at West Ham two weeks ago, and he thinks there could be much more to come from the Portuguese.

READ: Felix predicted Enzo's instant Chelsea impact

Enzo: 'Felix is fantastic'

"When you get on with someone off the field it helps on the field to have that special connection," Fernandez, a World Cup winner with Argentina in December, told The Times.

"He's a great player, isn't he? A fantastic player. He's got lots of ability and loads of qualities.

"He's a key player for us, an important player and he's on loan. Let's hope that Chelsea can do all they can to keep hold of him come June, that would be great."

READ: Chelsea make offer for Felix - but there's a catch

Felix signed a five-year contract extension with Atletico before he made the move to west London, but that was likely designed to extract a maximum transfer fee for a player who has fallen out of favour under Diego Simeone.

Felix became the second most expensive teenager of all time behind Kylian Mbappe when he joined Atletico from Benfica for €126 million in the summer of 2019, but they will likely have to settle for significantly less despite his recent deal.

Felix is valued at €44.3m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm.

His best season to date was the 2020/21 campaign when he had 13 goal-involvements as Atletico beat Real Madrid and Barcelona to the La Liga title, but the suspicion remains that he flatters to deceive.