Is Joao Felix prolific enough to solve Chelsea's issues?

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 11 Jan 2023 12:24 GMT
• 4 min read

Joao Felix has joined Chelsea on a six-month loan deal as the Blues look to save their season and climb back up the Premier League table.

The West London side are currently languishing down in 10th place in the top flight after suffering a poor run of results under new head coach Graham Potter.

They have turned to Atletico Madrid star Felix in a bid to change their fortunes, with the Portuguese star arriving on loan with no option to buy included in the deal.

READ: Joao Felix to Chelsea and the 10 most expensive loan transfers ever

The Blues are set to pay €10 million to sign Felix until the end of the season, and will pay his wages in full, meaning the deal will reach around €20m.

As such, there are question marks over the fee, especially given there is no option to buy at the end of the loan move, and there are also questions about whether Felix is the right man to fix Chelsea.

Is Felix prolific enough to help save Chelsea?

It remains to be seen where Felix fits in at Chelsea, and that is one massive unknown about the move.

READ: Chelsea to complete Joao Felix signing

He has history playing off the left flank and through the middle as a number nine, but his best role lies as a number 10 or a support-striker. In that regard, he has a similar profile to Kai Havertz, suggesting the Germany international may be fazed out the starting XI with the arrival of Felix.

Unless a starting striker comes in, then Felix is likely to simply displace Havertz in the team, or play in support of Havertz or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Either way, questions about his productivity remain, despite his obvious talent.

Felix is yet to hit double digits for goals in a single league campaign since joining Atleti for €127 million in 2019, with his best goal-scoring season at the club coming in 2021/22 when he netted eight league goals. That isn't prolific, especially when considering he's never exceeded five league assists in a single season either.

Of course, Felix has found it hard to get a consistent run of starts under Diego Simeone, with the Portuguese international's number of league starts in Spain reading: 21, 14 and 13 in his three full seasons at the Wanda Metropolitano.

However, he still hasn't delivered on his massive potential with enough final-third contributions in the opportunities he's been given.

Perhaps more worrying is who his goals have come against. His four league goals this season have come against Cadiz (x2), Espanyol and Elche. Those three teams make up the current relegation zone in La Liga. That is very concerning.

Furthermore, he has never scored against Real Madrid or Barcelona and has netted just once against Sevilla during his time at Atleti.

Along with Atletico, all three of those teams have finished in the top four in Spain in every season Felix has completed, meaning he's struck just once against the best teams in the league since arriving.

It does beg the question as to whether Felix is prolific enough to fix Chelsea's attacking woes, especially given the fact the Blues need an instant solution to their lack of goals and Felix would be expected to provide that.

He may be one step in the right direction, with his ball-striking ability up there with the best in world football, but Felix can't solve everything for Chelsea and he must be accompanied by a more reliable goal-scorer if the Blues want to finish in the European places this campaign.