Mauricio Pochettino has decided not to sign Joao Felix on a permanent deal after a poor loan spell with Chelsea, it has been revealed.
The Argentine was announced as the new Blues boss on Monday, and has already begun putting his stamp on transfer proceedings, approving a potential move for Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte.
He has also turned down the opportunity to land Felix permanently, despite the Portuguese star being desperate to make the move to Stamford Bridge and end his torrid spell at Atletico Madrid.
“We have been informed that Poch does not count with João Félix for Chelsea. He will return here, we’ll see… we’ve nothing planned”, Atlético president Enrique Cerezo revealed on Tuesday.
It comes after Chelsea paid £14m to take him on loan for the second half of the season, during which time he scored four times in sixteen appearances in the Premier League.
Felix admitted earlier in the season that he would be keen on a permanent switch to west London.
“It’s a top club, everyone in the club is very good to me, my teammates are unbelievable and I really like to be here.”
However, such a move always looked a little unlikely, with Atletico holding out for a fee of around 100m euros, and Chelsea having already agreed a deal to bring fellow attacker Christopher Nkunku to the club from RB Leipzig this summer.
It remains unclear what the future holds for Felix, with few clubs willing to match Atleti’s hefty asking price and his relationship with Diego Simeone still strained,
He will not be the only loanee in that position, with Denis Zakaria also expected to leave Chelsea and return to Juventus in the coming weeks after a torrid loan spell of his own.
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