Joao Felix / on loan to Chelsea

[Grande]

No keeper!?

Felix is the keeper, Neuer-like. We just don’t replace Ronaldo, that’s why it’s ten.

 

[Motorman]

Felix is the keeper, Neuer-like. We just don’t replace Ronaldo, that’s why it’s ten.

You had me at "don't replace ronaldo".

 

[izak]

Are we still linked to him?

 

[jesperjaap]

His best role is where Bruno currently plays.

I don't see him as what Utd need as a 9/false 9 at all either - he's clearly better creating for a proper CF (which Utd would still lack).

Would he really want to move to Utd to sit on the bench behind Bruno and Rashford?!

I agree, think he is a fabulus talent, but he certainly isnt a striker for us. I think his best position is also Fernandes

 

[Bwuk]

He’s difficult to fit into the current squad, but it’s obvious how good he is.

 

[Messier1994]

It's something he's already doing in his current role(s) especially on the counter attack. Why waste him in a deeper role when he's not very good defensively but can shoot and deliver a wonderful final ball. Also has decent pace.

Yeah but, moving back from a second striker role to a CM position must be one of the most common moves position wise in football. Bastian Schweinsteiger and the likes made that move (if I remember correctly).

With that thinking to keep the most skilled guys high up field, Luka Modric would never have had the success he have had in football. He definitely had issues defensively in the Premier League when he was young for Tottenham. But they kept him at CM to get him on the ball right after gaining possession. That is by far the biggest upside with having that play making ability in the middle of the pitch.

 

[Adam-Utd]

imagine if he ends up at villa

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[Messier1994]

imagine if he ends up at villa

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Does make sense for them to go ‘all-in’ for a Grealish replacement.

With that said, the hype machines have been working at full speed blowing hot air to pump up Felix stock the last months. Not surprised at all if this is another attempt.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I would play him on the left with Martial as a striker. And play him as striker with Rashford on the left when Martial injured.

Signing this guy on loan in January is sensible move.

 

[Tarrou]

Amazed Liverpool aren't in for him, surely he's the most Mane type replacement out there who's gettable for them, still young and relatively proven at the top level?

Could certainly see him at Man. United with the style Ten Hag is developing in final third.

he's basically nothing like Mane though?

 

[Rolaholic]

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[Erik the Red]

This is how I would use Felix:
———————————Martial———————————
Rash-——————————————————Antony
—————-Bruno————————————————
————————————————Felix———————
——————————Casemiro——————————
Shaw——Martinez—————Varane——Dalot

Poor Casemiro

I’d love for us to sign him, but now I’d also love us to sign about 5 others from that Portugal team.

Agree, Dalot and Bruno looked quite useful. Maybe Costa, Felix and Ramos as well. Not so sure about the old bloke who came on with his zimmer frame at the end - anyone know who he was? Had a number 7 on his shirt.

 

[Abraxas]

Seems to work well in the same team as Bruno, which is good. But it doesn't really alleviate the need for a proper forward to play down the middle. It's more of an option for the attack than solving a particular problem in the starting eleven. Would definitely add quality though.

 

[Chief123]

Amazed Liverpool aren't in for him, surely he's the most Mane type replacement out there who's gettable for them, still young and relatively proven at the top level?

Could certainly see him at Man. United with the style Ten Hag is developing in final third.

The only thing Felix and Mane have in common is they are both footballers. That’s it.

 

[pcaming]

Right now Antony and Sancho are misfiring, a loan test could work wonders for us presently. I think there's games he could work as a #9 in the EPL, we would still need a more physical and goal oriented striker though.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

His best role is where Bruno currently plays.

I don't see him as what Utd need as a 9/false 9 at all either - he's clearly better creating for a proper CF (which Utd would still lack).

Would he really want to move to Utd to sit on the bench behind Bruno and Rashford?!

He would bench Rashford imo. I think his best role will be how Pep uses Foden where he can play on the wing as wide playmaker and play in the centre as false 9. If he plays in the old days football, he will play in the front two like Bergkamp. So far he has shown that he can play with Bruno and given his ability on the ball and intelligence, I think he will suit to play in ten Hag's style.

Signing this guy is sensible since Atl Madrid makes him available in the market. If he's available for loan move, it will be even no brainer to sign him, which suits to our purpose trying to find quality attacker to replace Ronaldo in January with not much risk. And he will settle quickly since we have lot of Portuguese and Portuguese speaker in the squad.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Amazed Liverpool aren't in for him, surely he's the most Mane type replacement out there who's gettable for them, still young and relatively proven at the top level?

Could certainly see him at Man. United with the style Ten Hag is developing in final third.

Probably because they want to invest their budget on Bellingham. They need Bellingham more than Felix imo.

 

[SportingCP96]

I thought he was brilliant, different player when he’s loose and not restricted.

Silly touches, great passes, 2 assists, darting runs past players, his Link up was phenomenal.

 

[croadyman]

Surely the Villa links has no legs

Does it?

 

[Blood Mage]

This guy is Kaka 2.0, I love watching him play. He's a no.10 though and not a priority for us.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

This was one of the first times he would have played without being weighed down by Simeone or Ronaldo. Looked liberated and a seriously talented footballer again.

 

[Black Alabaster]

Even though its classic reactionary, i'm very glad more people came into this thread and waking up to the idea of signing this guy after that fantastic performance against a rugged Swiss team.

He showed exactly why he could play the Firmino facilitator role for us today, popping up in pockets on the wing, at #8, rotating positionally, picking the ball up in deep midfield and having the pace and balance to drive and glide past challenges. Picking the ball up on the edge of their box, accelerating the pace selling defenders the wrong way, popping faded chips into his team mates feet for 1-2's. Leading the breakaway driving up the pitch, one touch flick passes, effortless dribbling with step overs and skills, driving into the box with ball at feet, assisted Ramos first goal. This guy is suuuch a graceful pure street baller he can do it all! Don't forget he can finish and head the ball! (UCL header vs us) It makes me sad when I see people calling him a luxury or not good enough, they can't see this is a player that's ready to explode with the right coach guiding him.

With a proper coach who wants to dominate and play front foot proactive football at all times, as ETH loves to state is his ethos - This guy can be coached into realising that immense potential he has as anything he wants to be he has every tool in his kit. It is such a slam dunk signing.. We want a fluid rotating front 3 that can develop overloads, with midfielders who make third man runs past the striker & wingers into the box and Felix as he showed today has the IQ & guile to find those runners with imaginative delivery.

I know it seems to be the popular idea here at the moment but we really don't need a 30 goal a season pure penalty box broken nose style striker to be successful. Just like City have been doing pre-Haaland and Liverpool pre-Nunez we can spread them out as we have goalscoring midfielders and wingers in our new style too. Firmino was getting about 10 goals and 7 assists per season on average during his pomp for Liverpool and he does not possess any physical, mental or technical attribute that Felix doesn't.

ETH can rotate him through the attack as he sees fit. He did the same with Tadic who is a comparable profile, played him as CF before they got Haller to be more of a target man and moved him at LW #10 and RW.

Now their sporting director actually has stated he is for sale we should be all over this signing, whether he is the #9 or not we should not be missing out on a footballer this good that would raise the technical floor of our team by miles! Hope Bruno is really in his ear big time!

The villa link is probably to smoke out a bigger buyer, can't see Felix thinking that is a move worthy of his ability even if they throw the required cash at him.

 

[island]

He will leave in December on loan with a mandatory purchase option in the summer for about 90-100 million euros.

Mendes is talking to Bayern, United and PSG.

He lost a couple of years at Atlético de Madrid

A special temper...
He needs to choose his destination well.
And not be just another money laundering of Mendes.

 

[stoinz]

This guy is Kaka 2.0, I love watching him play. He's a no.10 though and not a priority for us.

That's what I thought when he first broke into the scene. Not sure if it is the Luke Skywalker hair. But have not seen this version of him for a long time. Hopefully he gets to move to a club that suits him and he can finally grow into his full potential.

 

[Kaos]

Right now Antony and Sancho are misfiring, a loan test could work wonders for us presently. I think there's games he could work as a #9 in the EPL, we would still need a more physical and goal oriented striker though.

Antony misfiring? The lad's only just joined us and scored 3 in 6. A bit premature to write him off already.

 

[croadyman]

Even though its classic reactionary, i'm very glad more people came into this thread and waking up to the idea of signing this guy after that fantastic performance against a rugged Swiss team.

He showed exactly why he could play the Firmino facilitator role for us today, popping up in pockets on the wing, at #8, rotating positionally, picking the ball up in deep midfield and having the pace and balance to drive and glide past challenges. Picking the ball up on the edge of their box, accelerating the pace selling defenders the wrong way, popping faded chips into his team mates feet for 1-2's. Leading the breakaway driving up the pitch, one touch flick passes, effortless dribbling with step overs and skills, driving into the box with ball at feet, assisted Ramos first goal. This guy is suuuch a graceful pure street baller he can do it all! Don't forget he can finish and head the ball! (UCL header vs us) It makes me sad when I see people calling him a luxury or not good enough, they can't see this is a player that's ready to explode with the right coach guiding him.

With a proper coach who wants to dominate and play front foot proactive football at all times, as ETH loves to state is his ethos - This guy can be coached into realising that immense potential he has as anything he wants to be he has every tool in his kit. It is such a slam dunk signing.. We want a fluid rotating front 3 that can develop overloads, with midfielders who make third man runs past the striker & wingers into the box and Felix as he showed today has the IQ & guile to find those runners with imaginative delivery.

I know it seems to be the popular idea here at the moment but we really don't need a 30 goal a season pure penalty box broken nose style striker to be successful. Just like City have been doing pre-Haaland and Liverpool pre-Nunez we can spread them out as we have goalscoring midfielders and wingers in our new style too. Firmino was getting about 10 goals and 7 assists per season on average during his pomp for Liverpool and he does not possess any physical, mental or technical attribute that Felix doesn't.

ETH can rotate him through the attack as he sees fit. He did the same with Tadic who is a comparable profile, played him as CF before they got Haller to be more of a target man and moved him at LW #10 and RW.

Now their sporting director actually has stated he is for sale we should be all over this signing, whether he is the #9 or not we should not be missing out on a footballer this good that would raise the technical floor of our team by miles! Hope Bruno is really in his ear big time!

The villa link is probably to smoke out a bigger buyer, can't see Felix thinking that is a move worthy of his ability even if they throw the required cash at him.

We wouldn't necessarily need that 30 goal a season CF if we had City's depth in midfield and wide areas,unfortunately we still have issues in both of those areas.

 

[Irrational.]

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So basically it could happen but also could not happen. Thanks for that absolutely groundbreaking analysis, Zach.

 

[NoPace]

Does make sense for them to go ‘all-in’ for a Grealish replacement.

With that said, the hype machines have been working at full speed blowing hot air to pump up Felix stock the last months. Not surprised at all if this is another attempt.

I think Villa have more money to spend than others seem to. You don't sanction spending 30M on a pretty good but not great LB who is already 29 (probably like 31 in central position years) in Digne if you're not ready to bid 80M on a guy like Joao Felix.

 

[yumtum]

A poster boy for a midtable club, real tempting that.

The highest Villa have been since coming back to the league after relegation was 11th - side note, I reckon Bayern will be in for him, he'll flourish there as there's a huge amount of space in the Bundesliga with Bayern being the most dominant.

 

[Boondog]

I don't think it is a stretch for him to play midfield in a Frenkie role. He may hate the idea though. Some guys only get joy from goals.

But ten Hag could play him all over. What is the value of a player who can be a ball carrying midfielder one week and a wing or striker the next or spell Bruno if necessary. So it seems he would need to be open to that, and if so then maybe they go get him.

I trust ten Hag's eye on this.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I don't think it is a stretch for him to play midfield in a Frenkie role. He may hate the idea though. Some guys only get joy from goals.

But ten Hag could play him all over. What is the value of a player who can be a ball carrying midfielder one week and a wing or striker the next or spell Bruno if necessary. So it seems he would need to be open to that, and if so then maybe they go get him.

I trust ten Hag's eye on this.

But FDJ can defend? Can Felix?

 

[BarstoolProphet]

Antony misfiring? The lad's only just joined us and scored 3 in 6. A bit premature to write him off already.

It's ridiculous. It's like injury = misfiring now

 

[Boondog]

But FDJ can defend? Can Felix?

I admit there would be a transition to that over time. But he has the tools to be able to grow into a role that gives his team great flexibility.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

If its seriously Villa being his possible destination, we need to get into the mix. He is a great talent and could work well with our attackers.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I admit there would be a transition to that over time. But he has the tools to be able to grow into a role that gives his team great flexibility.

I don't think we're in a position to test out such expensive experiments. But he really messed up by going to Atletico. He'd have even better off at many other clubs that could have tried things like that and help him fulfill his potential faster.

 

[Adisa]

The only way I see us in the mix is a loan to buy. That's if reports that we tried to sign him in the summer were true.

 

[pascell]

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Covering all bases, journalism is an easy gig.

 

[Kostov]

Let's not feck around and bring this guy in. It's not like we are loaded with such talent in the positions he is playing. Bring him in ETH will find a role for him.

 

[hellhunter]

Let's not feck around and bring this guy in. It's not like we are loaded with such talent in the positions he is playing. Bring him in ETH will find a role for him.

He played LW for Portugal and seems more suited to SS/AM. How are we not stacked in those positions?

 

[Cassidy]

This is how I would use Felix:
———————————Martial———————————
Rash-——————————————————Antony
—————-Bruno————————————————
————————————————Felix———————
——————————Casemiro——————————
Shaw——Martinez—————Varane——Dalot

Not entirely convinced. Hes not a CM and Bruno is bad enough with his discipline in the midfield.