Chelsea’s final January transfer to be completed TODAY

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 4 Feb 2025 06:44 GMT
4 min read

The January transfer window has now closed but AC Milan will still complete the loan signing of Joao Felix on Tuesday.

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Eyebrows were raised when the transfer deadline came and went without Joao Felix's move to Milan being announced but the deal will go through as planned on Tuesday.

Felix has arrived in Milan and will undergo his medical on Tuesday morning. If all goes to plan, he will officially sign his loan contract and the transfer will be officially announced.

It is a straight loan deal, so Milan do not have the option of making his move permanent in the summer, although they could of course engage in fresh talks with the Blues in the next window.

Milan will pay a €2 million loan fee for the 25-year-old and cover his salary. He was the desired target of new head coach Sergio Conceicao.

Chelsea decided to offload Felix after a disappointing season at Stamford Bridge.

The 25-year-old joined Chelsea from Atletico Madrid for a whopping €52 million in August, with the Blues only agreeing a deal in order to ensure Conor Gallagher moved in the opposite direction.

However, Felix has only mustered three Premier League starts so far this campaign, amid competition from Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku.

As a result both player and club decided that a move away in January would be the best solution.

The Rossoneri were in the market for a left-sided attacker who can also play in a front two, and moved for Felix after a transfer for their first target Marcus Rashford fell through.

New Milan manager Sergio Conceicao knows Felix well from Portuguese and also believes that he is well suited to playing in a front two.

Conceicao plans to switch to a 4-4-2, which is his favoured system, and play Felix as one of the two attackers.

© IMAGO - Joao Felix has flopped at Chelsea

Joao Felix career

Felix burst onto the scene as a teenager with Benfica and was considered as one of the most exciting youngsters in world football.

This led to Atletico Madrid splashing out €126 million for Felix in 2019, which made him the fourth most expensive player of all time.

However, Felix struggled badly at Atletico to live up to his price tag. He didn’t benefit from Diego Simeone’s defensive style of play, and slowly fell out of favour. He managed just 34 goals in 131 games for the club.

He was loaned out to Chelsea and Barcelona in successive seasons, where he struggled to impress.

Despite this, Chelsea still decided to bring him back permanently last summer.

Once again, though, Felix has failed to make the grade and has managed one goal in 20 Premier League appearances.

He has won a Portuguese Primeira Liga, Spanish La Liga and a UEFA Nations League during his career.

He has been capped 45 times by Portugal, scoring nine goals.