Two Club World Cup teams bid for Chelsea playmaker – but he only wants one destination | OneFootball

It’s been clear since January that Chelsea’s plan would be to sell Joao Felix this summer.

Sadly, not much progress is being made in that direction. There was a buzz before the Club World Cup that Benfica were keen to sign their prodigal son back, and to use him in the tournament in the USA. But as June slipped by it became clear that wasn’t happening.

Two CWC teams rejected by Felix who only wants Benfica

Joao Felix rues a missed chance. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Now we’re into July and there’s still very little action. We continue to hear from Portuguese sources that the attacking midfielder is in demand, but they don’t seem to have actually got too far in terms of negotiations yet.

CaughtOffside exclusively reported today that Felix is still holding out hopes of a return to his boyhood club. He has apparently already turned down speculative approaches from two other teams who featured at the Club World Cup – Porto and Flamengo.

Transfer fee remains major block for deal advancing

Right now, the issue seems to be the transfer fee. The Portuguese giants are only willing to pay €25m for Felix according to this report.

There was some talk last week about Benfica bringing in an investment fund to pay the remainder to Chelsea, but even then it will be hard to pull off. We paid something like €45m to sign him a year ago, and won’t take more than a €10m hit on that at most.

With so many years left on the deal he signed last summer, it’s possible we loan him out again, although that’s more of a last resort given how precious the foreign loan slots are. If we don’t see any concrete movement in the next few weeks, we could start to get worried.