Joao Felix did not get his Chelsea career off to an ideal start on Thursday (Picture: Getty Images)
Joao Felix became the first Chelsea player to be sent off on their Premier League debut when he was shown a red card against Fulham on Thursday night, kicking off his career in London in nightmarish fashion.
The loan signing from Atletico Madrid had looked pretty good on his first outing for the Blues, but his decent work was undone when he lunged in on Kenny Tete on 58 minutes with the score 1-1.
It did not seem malicious, but it was certainly dangerous and there was little argument over the straight red the 23-year-old was shown.
The Portugal forward went for an early bath and his teammates went on to lose 2-1 at Craven Cottage, continuing Graham Potter’s poor run of luck and results which has left Chelsea sitting 10th in the Premier League.
Felix earned an unwanted place in Chelsea history with the red card, and he also became the first player of any Premier League club to be sent off on debut since Federico Fazio for Tottenham in 2014.
Felix’s lunge on Kenny Tete ended his Chelsea debut in nightmare fashion (Picture: Getty Images)
On the challenge, Potter said: ‘A forward’s tackle. It didn’t feel like an emotional one. It was miscontrolled, and a football action that can happen with the speed of the Premier League. He didn’t go to hurt anybody. He didn’t lose his head.
‘All of them will be learning moments. Joao is a young, top player. You can see his quality and what he brought to the game. He’ll learn from it.’
It is an expensive tackle for Chelsea as Felix will now miss three games through suspension, a significant amount when the forward was only signed on loan for the rest of the season.
A loan fee of £9m and covering his wages worth around £6m makes it very costly indeed for Felix to be sat out of the Premier League clashes with Liverpool, Fulham (again) and West Ham.
MORE : Graham Potter explains Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang snub after Chelsea’s defeat to Fulham
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A shocking start for the new signing.
