Chelsea sent Joao Felix transfer message as Aston Villa target Jhon Duran replacement | OneFootball

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Aston Villa’s president of football operations Monchi has confirmed that the club are hoping to sign Chelsea forward Joao Felix before Monday’s transfer deadline.

Colombian international Duran has completed his medical ahead of a deal that will initially be worth over £60million to Villa.

The club plan to reinvest some of those funds and Monchi has confirmed that Felix is head coach Unai Emery’s preferred target. Emery has encouraged Villa to sign the Portuguese forward in the past, but they have been unsuccessful.

Felix returned to former loan club Chelsea in the summer from Atletico Madrid for a fee in the region of £45m, but he has started just three Premier League games under Enzo Maresca so far this season, with most of his appearances and all but one of his seven goals coming in the cup competitions.

“The first thing we are going to do with the money we receive from the sale of Duran is to keep a portion of it because of the [Financial] Fair Play rules, which are very demanding,” Monchi told AS. “A significant part of the income will go towards that.

“Then there are names, one of them being Joao [Felix]. Emery likes him, because in the three transfer markets I have been in, the fourth with this one, he has always been mentioned and has been a small object of desire for Emery.

“But it is complicated, and I don’t know if we will be able to be there. He is a player with a lot of quality and Emery has been able to recover players who were considered lost in his history as a coach, and he trusts in Joao’s talent.

“The first time, Aston Villa were in the Conference League and he wanted the Champions League, that’s why he went to Barcelona.

“Then, in the operation with [Conor] Gallagher and Atletico he had to enter into negotiations with Chelsea and we couldn’t get in.”

Monchi also confirmed Villa’s interest in Paris Saint-Germain’s former Real Madrid winger Marco Asensio, while earlier this week the club rejected a shock bid from Arsenal for England striker Ollie Watkins.

Villa have also been linked with a move for Joao Felix’s Chelsea team-mate Axel Disasi in recent weeks.