Shaun Wright-Phillips has said that Chelsea need to sign Joao Felix on a permanent deal from Atletico Madrid this summer.
Felix has been a shining light for Chelsea since his arrival in January, his movement off the ball and ability to create chances being something that Chelsea have missed in the past couple of seasons.
The Portuguese forward has two goals since his arrival at the start of the year and Wright-Phillips is of the opinion that Felix solves a lot of the issues that Chelsea have had in recent years.
“Joao Felix. In a way, he was a player that I’d say Thomas Tuchel was missing,” Wright-Phillips told Betway.
“He’s the link between midfield and attack that they didn’t have. Watching Chelsea over the last few years before Potter, defensively they were fantastic, but it just felt like when they got to that final third, there wasn’t a connection there.
“There wasn’t that threat of a player like Frank Lampard, who will make runs into the box, or an Eidur Gudjohnsen who will dribble and make things happen. It was just midfield and attack, but I think Joao Felix sews that part up.”
Felix signed for his parent club Atletico Madrid in 2019 for what was then the second-highest transfer fee paid for a teenager after Kylian Mbappe, but after four years, 131 appearances and 34 goals for the club, his relationship with boss Diego Simeone was said to have soured, leading the Blues to approach the club for a loan move for the 23-year old, who was also the recipient of FIFA’s Golden Boy award in November 2019.
The former Benfica man is said to be thoroughly enjoying his time at Chelsea, which will no doubt give hope to the Blues hierarchy that they could try and prise him away from Atleti at the season’s end, fulfilling the wishes of Wright-Phillips and every Chelsea fan across the globe.