Joao Felix was one of the stars of the show last night against Liverpool.
Playing in a fluid front 2 with Kai Havertz, the on loan attacker floated around between the lines and out wide, linking up with the midfield and the wing backs.
It was a similar performance to many of those we’ve seen from Felix since he signed in January. He was the most creative player on the team, but couldn’t manage to actually deliver a goal or assist.
Unfortunately, that’s what you’re going to get with Felix a lot of the time. That was the reason Atletico were willing to let him go. His production never quite matches his promise.
There’s still plenty of room for that to happen at Chelsea – especially if we play him with a really confident goalscorer – but we can’t bury our head in the sand and pretend this is just a phase.
We knew (or should have known) all of this before we brought him in—Felix is a 10, not a 9. We already have one 10 (Havertz) being asked to provide goals he doesn’t have in his locker and, rather than get a 9 in Jan, we went with the “shiny object” in Felix. Yes, he looks dynamic, but, as SuperFrank rightly points out, he rarely delivers an actual goal. Anyone who looked closely at his record at Athletico would have known this BEFORE he arrived in London.