PROFILE | Nomadic Félix Correia makes immediate impact at Lille | OneFootball

Félix Correia has charted a nomadic career since deciding in 2019 at the age of 18 to leave the familiarity of the Sporting CP academy for Manchester City. In the nine years he had spent at his boyhood club, he had earned a reputation as one of the more promising talents of his generation and became a Portuguese international across youth levels. 

He was a regular starter during Portugal’s run to the final of the 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, in a team that also included future Ligue 1 stars Vitinha and Gonçalo Ramos. Outside of the youth level, the young winger would find life in the professional game far from simple, as he became quickly trapped in the elite club loan carousel. 

He never made an appearance for Manchester City and was loaned out to Jong AZ in the Netherlands. After a season away from his parent club, he was part of a swap deal with Juventus that saw Pablo Marin travel the other way. In Italy, he would make a sole appearance for the Juventus first team before spending the rest of his time with the youth side or out on a series of loans. 

Eight goal contributions for Correia

First, it was to Parma, before he had two loans in his home country with Marítimo and Vicente Gil. The latter of which would make his stay permanent at the end of the 2023/24 campaign. And it was there that Correia began to find his feet again, scoring 15 times and registering nine assists across his two years at Vicente Gil. 

Correia was on the move again in the summer, after his performances in Portugal had caught the attention of Lille OSC. The club spent a reported €7m to secure him on a four-year contract, and he has so far fitted nicely into Bruno Génésio’s plans, registering four goals and four assists in 23 games across all competitions for his new side. 

He provides a unique profile on the flanks, with Lille stocked full of wingers like Osame Sahraoui and Matias Fernandez-Pardo, who like to run at defenders. Correia instead prefers to beat the defence with an incisive pass. There are still wrinkles in his game, and his form can be patchy at times. However, there is also potential, and the feeling that the best is yet to come for a player who has rarely been given the time to settle for long.

GFFN | Nick Hartland