João Félix has joined Barcelona from Atletico Madrid on a season-long loan deal, the club announced ahead of Friday’s transfer deadline.
The loan does not include an option to make the move permanent, Barcelona confirmed.
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Félix became Atletico’s club-record signing when he joined in a €126 million ($137m) deal from Benfica in July 2019, but struggled to make the intended impact, scoring 34 goals in 131 games for Atletico.
He was sent on loan to Chelsea in January, where he was sent off on his debut and could not fix their goal-scoring issues, netting just four times in 20 appearances. Chelsea appointed Mauricio Pochettino this summer, and the Argentine boss indicated he did not want to sign the 23-year-old forward.
Félix arrives at Barca amid the departures of Ousmane Dembélé, who left for PSG last month, and Ansu Fati, who joined Brighton on loan on Friday.