Benfica stepping up efforts to bring João Félix home (temporarily) — reports
Returning to Krypton to recharge his powers
Things have not gone to plan once again for João Félix, failing to impress on loan at AC Milan and now once again finding himself in career limbo (despite a long-term Chelsea contract at his disposal). Six years ago, he had the world at his feet. Four clubs later, it’s starting to look less and less likely that we’ll ever witness his greatness again.
Could a return back to where it all started help him rediscover that magic? According to Record, the his boyhood club, Benfica have now started negotiations with Chelsea over a potential loan — they were first linked several weeks back — with the Félix said to be extremely interested in the move. Benfica, who will be at the Club World Cup, want to secure his signing before the tournament starts.
That may be a great option for him and perhaps Benfica, but Chelsea would rather not deal with another series of endless loans, and would like to arrange a transfer. We have set a price of €30m plus bonuses, according to Bruno Andrade (via CNN Portugal). Whether Benfica would be willing to meet those demands is questionable, at best.
Félix is at a very critical point in his career. He is set to turn 26 this year, and Benfica are the only European club that have been linked with him, with the rest of the interest coming from South America and Saudi Arabia. Hopefully, a compromise is reached to facilitate a move back to his homeland, in what may be the last opportunity for him to salvage the sort of career that was once envisioned for him.
Yesterday, reports claimed that not only were Chelsea keeping tabs on Mike Maignan’s contract situation at AC Milan, but that we were “ready to table” a €25m offer for the 29-year-old goalkeeper’s services.
Turns out, that may have been a bit too optimistic.
Sky Sports are reporting this morning that Chelsea “won’t pay” anywhere near that amount, and are unwilling to go above what we would deem “realistic and reasonable” for a player about to enter the final year of his contract.
What is realistic and reasonable? As per Fabrizio Romano, it’s just €10m! That’s definitely reasonable, especially considering that it would be about half the average of what we’ve been paying at the position: Robert Sánchez, Filip Jörgensen, Đorđe Petrović, and even young Mike Penders all commanded fees of around €20m, give or take a few mils.
Incidentally, the middle ground between what we’re willing to pay now and what Milan are hoping for is right around €20m! (Though apparently we don’t want to drag this out for too long and hope to find a resolution one way or another this week.)
