Pochettino DASHES Chelsea star's dreams

Tom Weber

• Updated: 30 May 2023 21:09 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea star Joao Felix will not stay with the Blues beyond this season, according to Atletico Madrid's president.

Once one of the world's most expensive players, the attacking midfielder fell out of favour at Atleti and joined Chelsea on loan in January. While not as productive as hoped, the Portuguese had reportedly won plaudits at Stamford Bridge, with rumours about the Blues making his deal permanent swirling for a while.

In fact, Felix himself made it quite clear that he wants to stay with Chelsea, saying last week: "I don't know yet on my future, but these four/five months [at Chelsea], I love it. I would really like to be here [next season]." For the right price, his parent club would not have stood in his way.

READ: Felix drops HUGE hint over Chelsea future

Now, however, the Spanish club's president Enrique Cerezo has made waves by claiming that incoming Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino is not keen on Felix.

What did Cerezo say?

Speaking to AS about the 23-year-old's future, Cerezo remarked: "Yesterday we had the news that the new Chelsea manager does not [want] Felix."

"We've known," he continued, "for less than 24 hours. He'll come back here and we'll see. We don't have anything planned." Felix joined Atleti in 2019 in a deal worth €126 million, but he has never quite managed to live up to his ridiculous (and unfair) price tag.

READ: Chelsea star set for Milan as part of Pochettino purge

If he were to move on this summer, Atleti would want to recoup at least a decent chunk of that money, which could make it hard for them to offload the player. Indeed, even when Chelsea were said to be exploring the possibility of striking a deal, the asking price believed to be around €100m always seemed a significant roadblock.

The Spanish capital club may just be stuck with their outrageous investment, which will surely go down as one of the most ill-advised transfers in history.