Simeone blames Joao Felix for lack of minutes amid Man Utd links
FT Desk
- 15 Oct 2022 12:50 BST
- 3 min read
Joao Felix has been linked with a summer transfer to Manchester United, and his Atletico Madrid future looks bleaker with the permanent signing of Antoine Griezmann.
Felix's €126 million move from Benfica to Atletico in 2019 remains the fourth-highest transfer fee of all time, and the Portuguese has had a largely productive three-year spell in Madrid.
The 22-year-old has scored 63 goals and assisted 35 more in 209 games across all competitions with los Colchoneros, and helped them win La Liga at Real Madrid's and Barcelona's expense in 2020/21.
Joao Felix making it 5 in 5 games by opening the scoring for Atletico Madrid tonight.
He's been linked with a summer move to Arsenal.#AFCpic.twitter.com/eebKUoA0AA— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) March 11, 2022
But this season Alvaro Morata has been Diego Simeone's first-choice attacker, and he has invariably been partnered by Griezmann in the final third, where possible. Griezmann was restricted to 30-minute cameos whilst still on loan from Barca to avoid paying the Bluagrana €40m, but now he has returned on a permanent basis for €20m, that phase is over.
Ahead of Atletico's meeting with Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, Simeone was unapologetic about Felix's lack of playing time.
Fierce competition
"I'm going to be very clear in the same way in which I explained it to Joao. I want to win with [Angel] Correa, with Joao, with Griezmann, with [Matheus] Cunha, with Morata, that's the reality. In the year we won La Liga he had an incredible year until he got injured...
"And now when his performance has got worse, other teammates play, because I believe Joao's equal to Correa and everyone else. As soon as he returns to performing well in training, recovers his goalscoring - which we'll need - he'll play. But while I'm here, it goes by performances. That's why other teammates are playing."
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Erik ten Hag wants a mobile forward at Man Utd with Cristiano Ronaldo's Old Trafford career coming to an end and repeated injury issues casting on Anthony Martial and, perhaps to a lesser degree, Marcus Rashford.
Felix is currently ranked at €62m by Football Transfers' in-house algorithm, but Atletico are understood to have turned down bids of nearly twice that over the last year.
