Has signing Joao Felix paid off for Atletico Madrid?

10/12/19 3040

Atletico Madrid won the race to sign forward Joao Felix from Benfica for €126 million last summer. The Spanish side’s willingness to break the bank after selling Antoine Griezmann showed the race to add Felix was a one-horse contest.

Now, 12 La Liga matches into the season and Felix’s signing has not paid off for Atletico Madrid. The Mattress Makers are sixth in La Liga following their Friday night nil-nil draw against Villarreal.

Felix has struggled to make the team better than they were a season ago. Yes, Diego Simeone’s tactics are always defence first and this season has been called a re-building year, but when you fork out €126m on one player, they should improve the team overall.

Atletico Madrid average a mere 1.0 goals per game on the domestic front. Felix has scored just two of the team’s 16 goals while adding an assist. Friday night’s draw with Villarreal showcased the forward’s poor finishing once more.

Felix hit the post and was involved in Atletico Madrid’s attack throughout, but lacked a finisher’s touch. The Portuguese hitman tallied nine total shots with four off target and three blocked. He completed 19 of 27 passes making two key passes. Meanwhile, Felix had 45 touches during the game.

For all of Felix’s positives, the overall negatives of the team were many and exemplified in a goalless draw. Atletico Madrid are eight points off of first-place teams Barcelona and Real Madrid. Unless something dramatic happens to Atletico Madrid’s scoring, they won’t trouble the two league leaders.

Atletico Madrid spent the house on Felix following his good goalscoring numbers at Benfica last term. Felix scored 20 goals in 43 games but the quality of teams he scored against was lacking.

Benfica make millions year after year by selling players that have thrived in the Portuguese Liga only to fail to do the same elsewhere. Yes, there have been some excellent stars that have built even bigger careers following their times at Benfica, such as Jan Oblak and Angel di Maria.

However, there are also the Renato Sanches players who showed promise, moved for a big fee and failed to develop because they had already peaked.

Felix scored 15 of his 20 goals in the Portuguese Liga in 2019-20 and only three of his total goals were scored in the Europa League. His hat-trick against Eintracht Frankfurt was misleading as well. Those goals were scored with the Germans a man down and one of scores came from the penalty spot.

The striker’s poor second leg match against Eintracht Frankfurt was better evidence of his “big game” play. Felix was non-existent as Eintracht Frankfurt overturned a two-goal deficit to go through on away goals 4-4.

Felix still has a good reputation as a top young player. Yet, after his big-money move, Atletico Madrid should be doing better in La Liga and Felix should be the one orchestrating wins.