Joao Felix has not had the easiest time at Atletico Madrid, and it was intriguing to see him score against his parent club for loan side Barcelona over the weekend.
Felix, who also had a loan spell at Chelsea last season, clearly had issues with certain key figures at Atletico, with Fabrizio Romano admitting that there are a lot of private matters that led to his struggles.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest Daily Briefing column, Romano suggested these were certain normal issues that players sometimes have with clubs and managers.
This follows Felix himself speaking out after scoring against Atletico, saying that fans of his parent club don’t fully understand everything that went on with him behind the scenes.
Fabrizio Romano on Joao Felix’s Atletico Madrid struggles
“Joao Felix has had a bit of a mixed season on loan at Barcelona from Atletico Madrid, but he’s certainly had an impact when playing against his parent club, as he scored in home and away fixtures against Atletico in La Liga,” Romano said.
“Speaking after the latest game, Felix insisted that fans don’t know the truth about what happened with him in Madrid, so I thought I’d try to provide some insight into what he means.
“It’s about the relationship between Felix, the club, the manager…many issues that are an absolutely normal part of the game in elite football. It’s understandable but it’s also private stuff so it will be up to Joao or Atletico to mention that if and when they want to. In any case, I think it’s been clear since a long time now that the player has no future at Atletico Madrid.”
Atletico fans probably won’t be too surprised to see Felix has no long-term future at the club, so it will be interesting to see if his loan to Barcelona is made permanent or if he moves elsewhere this summer.