Despite a run of underwhelming performances in recent weeks, Barcelona remain determined to sign Joao Felix on a permanent basis. The Portuguese is currently on a season-long loan deal from Atletico Madrid, but the Catalan club hope that he will be their player for more than just one year.
Sporting Director Deco is a big fan of Felix, and as per Sport, he has already devised a plan to sign him permanently from Atletico, where he was out of favour before making the move to Barcelona in the summer.
Deco considers Felix to be a key part of Barcelona’s project, and he intends to re-negotiate another loan next summer. This would include a mandatory buy option, which would be lower than Atletico’s current asking price, which is reported to be €80m.
Barcelona, and especially Deco, are betting heavily on Felix for multiple reasons. Firstly, they feel that he can be sold out for a significant amount of money, possibly to Saudi Arabia, should that be decided further down the line, given that he is still only 24. Furthermore, he showed great desire to join Barcelona during the summer, which club officials greatly appreciated.
For the time being, Barcelona will exclusively hope that Felix can re-capture the form he showed in his first few weeks at the club. Looking ahead to next summer, expect movement on another deal with Atletico.
