Joao Felix is the most expensive signing in the history of
Atlético de Madrid
. The mattress club disbursed a season ago no less than 127 million euros, destined for the Benfica, his then club.
His first season in the Athletic it had generated a lot of expectations. It was expected, due to its overwhelming previous season or because of its preseason, that it would be a cyclone. And the reality was closer to a player in adaptation to his new club, with many good and promising details, but also with performance drops and injuries.
If there is someone who knows the mattress player well, it is Rui Costa, who has no doubt that the forward will triumph. “João Felix has all the virtues to be a star of world football “, explained the head of Benfica, in words collected by 'Goal'.
“For the money that was paid in his transfer, a lot was expected of him, or many expected him to arrive and be the best player in Spain, who would turn every ball he touched into gold. And he's very young (20 years old), he needs time to adapt, “defended the‘ Aguilas ’sports director.
“I have no doubt that what he did João in Portugal , to have made everyone passionate about the way they play, will do it too in
Spain. And I'm not saying this because he was our player at Benfica and we already worked together, “he continued to sentence:” I say it because of his enormous qualities. He has all the virtues to be a star of world football, and I have no doubt that he will become one. ”
However, and despite the fact that the season may not have been up to the disbursement that was made, 127 million euros, the largest in the club's history; The truth is that his numbers have not been a disaster this first season, he played 36 games this season, 28 of them as a starter. It was the tenth most games played this past season. In number of minutes it was the tenth most used by Simeone, totaled 2,483 minutes. In addition, he has been the second top scorer of the Athletic in this past campaign, with nine goals. It only made him better Alvaro Morata, with 16. And he had three assists, being the seventh most.