Chelsea spent £16m on signing Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid (Shutterstock)
Atletico Madrid are growing concerned with Joao Felix’s situation at Chelsea and fear the Premier League club will not make his loan deal permanent this summer, according to reports in Spain.
Chelsea opted to spend £16 million on bringing Felix to Stamford Bridge in January for the remainder of the season.
But the Portugal international has only shown flashes of promise during his time in the Premier League after he was sent off less than an hour into his debut.
Felix has started Chelsea’s last two games on the bench and was brought on as a second-half substitute in the 2-1 defeat to Brighton last Saturday and the 2-0 loss at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
According to Cadena SER, Atletico are ‘concerned’ by Felix’s performances at Chelsea and his lack of playing time.
Joao Felix has started on the bench in Chelsea’s last two fixtures (AMA/Getty)
The report claims that the Spanish club ‘fear’ that Chelsea are no longer interested in a permanent deal at the end of the season and are still holding out for an €80 million (£70.5m) transfer fee for the 23-year-old.
It’s understood that Diego Simeone does not view Felix as part of his plans for next season, meaning that Atletico will be forced to cash in this summer.
Newcastle United could be another option for Felix as they registered their interest in the Portuguese forward prior to his loan to Chelsea.
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Speaking about his future last month, Felix said: ‘I always try to do my best but sometimes it didn’t work so I had to change to see if the things go different, so it is important for me this loan.
‘The future no one knows and I am just focused on tomorrow’s game. We don’t know what will happen but I am happy here, the group is so big it is amazing, everyone at the club is so good so I am happy to be here.’
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Felix is due to return to Atletico this summer.