SHOCK club goes 'all in' on Chelsea flop

Stuart Telford

• Updated: 9 Jun 2023 17:34 BST
• 3 min read

Galatasaray have emerged as the surprise possible next destination for Chelsea loanee Joao Felix, with neither the Blues nor parent club Atletico Madrid wanting to keep him.

Felix joined Chelsea on loan from Atletico in January, and after being sent off on his debut against Fulham, scored just four goals in 20 appearances in all competitions.

An aesthetically pleasing player, Felix had the public backing of teammate Enzo Fernandez, but Mauricio Pochettino is unconvinced by the Portuguese, and ready to allow him to return to Madrid at the end of June.

READ: Simeone makes big statement on Joao Felix's future

Chelsea have Christopher Nkunku arriving from RB Leipzig, and Felix is now surprlus to requirements.

Like Pochettino, Diego Simeone sees no future for Felix at Atletico, and now Galatasaray have emerged as a potential destination for the mercurial attacker.

Boey key

As reported by Spanish transfer specialists Fichajes, Felix and Galatasaray recently followed each other on Instagram and when "AS contacted the president of Galatasaray, Dursun Ozbek" he "neither confirmed nor denied interest in the player."

READ: Mudryk all over again! Arsenal OUTBID for French star

Felix remains the second-most expensive teenager of all time behind Kylian Mbappe and is now valued at €45.4m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm - likely putting him beyond Galatasaray's financial reach.

Another loan move could be the solution, although Gala have an ace in the hole with their right-back Sacha Boey, the French right-back who is a long-term target of Simeone's and could act as a makeweight.

Arsenal and Brighton are also reportedly interested in Boey, and Galatasaray will be optimistic of driving his price up far beyond the €4.9m he is valued at by FootballTransfers, but the chance to acquire Felix permanently could prove too tempting to turn down.

Felix cost Atletico €126m when he joined from Benfica in 2019, and Chelsea paid a further €11m to loan him in the season just gone.