Joao Felix / on loan to Chelsea
- Thread starter Attila
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One of the most naturally gifted players in world football. Terrible move going to Athletico, guess the hope was he'd be the new Greizemann.
He's not. He's a sort of 19 or whatever you'd call it, or at least he was at Benfica. Technical and creative but also a good poacher.
In general, yes.
For the rest of this season though, we might get by with a less specific addition to our attacking rotation. Felix would theoretically cover a lot of our attacking positions himself, while also freeing Rashford to cover at CF if needed and/or Bruno to play out wide as he has on a few occasions.
I'm sure there are cheap players we could get instead who are natural CFs, but the trade-off would be that they almost certainly wouldn't be at Felix' level in terms of actual quality. It's debatable which would benefit us more over a five month stretch.
Plus future plans would impact it too. Are we planning to make a big CF signing in the summer? In which case would signing a cheap CF like Thuram now make sense in the medium term from a squad composition POV? And might we be interested in Felix himself in the summer, in which case the loan until then would have additional value? Without knowing next summer's plans it's hard to gauge what makes more sense.
Mendes may give us a boost in this trying to keep his relationship with the club amiable after the Ronaldo debacle.
He's a support striker really. Like he'd do well if a team played a 4-4-2. He's obviously not an out and out striker but we certainly won't be able to get a person of his quality in this window. He can also play in multiple attacking positions which would be invaluable right now, especially with Sancho unavailable at present. I would do the deal if the fee is realistic. I wouldn't be surprised if he interchanged positions with Rashford if we signed him
I agree he is but we need CF to take chances too
Erik deserves both but won't get it
I expect Chelsea to be in for him given how poor they look in attacking positions.
I don’t see why he goes there. He’s trying to revive his career. Not kill it dead.
Long term I'd wonder how he'd fit in to the team.
I don't think he has it in him to spear head an attack so he has to play behind the attack but than do you shift Bruno?
Worst case scenario is him having to play on the left which would make this redundant and best case scenario would be us finding a way to replicate the Liverpool dynamic model(but then firmino is much better at that role than the unproven felix).
I don't think he has it in him to spear head an attack so he has to play behind the attack but than do you shift Bruno?
Worst case scenario is him having to play on the left which would make this redundant and best case scenario would be us finding a way to replicate the Liverpool dynamic model(but then firmino is much better at that role than the unproven felix).
Maybe but surely given the option and being on the same wages regardless he’d rather go to United right now?
With Ten Hag, Varane, Casemiro, Rashford etc he could be part of something very exciting
They’ll go all in for Mudryk.
I think they’ll rotate him with Martial as a playmaking 9. Like Bobby F was for Liverpool in his prime. If your wingers can take their chances and I reckon ours can I think Felix will make more space and chances for them. He’s also already a pretty decent finisher, not prolific but a really impressive technique. He can definitely improve certain aspects but for me he has undoubted world class potential. Himself and Enzo are the best players on the market currently.
Genuinely think ETH will push Fernandes to the right wing and have Felix as the 10, similar to how DVB played.
I feel like he's been doing that to train the team for when Felix arrives.
I feel like he's been doing that to train the team for when Felix arrives.
Or because Antony was injured and Sancho is out for the time being and we could play Rashford in his best position? Think it was clear to see we looked better in the second half when we had genuine width.
You don't really play with a false 9 when you are utilising a 10 in a 4231. I'm concerned Felix will take up a lot of the same positions as Bruno.
Than what about Antony?
Yeah and still no finisher in the box
For once I have full faith that our manager knows what he wants long term and he’s not just chasing the biggest names we can possibly attract. If he wants a player I'm inclined to believe he has a place for him in the starting lineup and a great idea how to get the best out of him.
not because of that, because it gives us another option.
Antony hasn’t set the world alight, and we don’t have another competent right wing option at present.
He’s moved bruno to the right wing quite a few times lately so he clearly likes the idea.
Only when Antony is unavailable really.
No idea whether this is the right move for either club or player, but he is an absolutely awesome player.
but with felix as the 10, will be prefer that option? time will tell.
If his finishing improves with age he’ll be absolutely lethal. He can finish with both feet. Not afraid to challenge in the air. Can dribble, create and do the unexpected. I think he’s by far the best technical forward on the market over the last few years. He’s not the finished article at all but he’s very exciting and would be a major coup.
No, ten hag wants a striker. He may not be a target man, but I think if Felix comes his position is tweaked in training to play as CF. Maybe even if it's a Bobby Firminho role similar to Liverpool, on paper it suits him and brings more goal outlets to the team.
Please get this done. Is an incredible player, would people rather us sign an average striker for 20m which we will then have on our books for 2/3 years or get Felix who is a genuinely fantastic footballer with the hope we could sign him permanently
I am greedy and want him plus a CF on loan deal until the summer but looks impossible
Felix false 9 with Bruno right behind him could be an absolute lethal duo.
Yeah it could but still need a CF bench option
Ten Hag already did that. It was interchangeable front 4 and to this day his most exciting team.
This is my thinking behind the move for Felix. It would mean though in my opinion that the wide forwards would have to be more clinical to offset not having that fixed, reliable striker type. Hopefully Rashford maintains this level of form going forward as I can see him getting a lot more goals with Felix in the XI potentially. Felix and Martial could interchange between left and centre too, maybe put Rashford on the right seeing ETH has made him somewhat decent there now. Maybe Bruno can make more of those attacking runs forward too.
It would be a nightmare for opposing teams to mark, if all of our front line move about the place. For years we’ve been deemed predictable and now that we’ve got an elite coaching setup, we can make progress with emulating Guardiola and Klopp teams.
Martial will do until the summer.
We shouldn't have to make do due to leeches
He’s like Firmino
Firmino is a good comparison. What's interesting is that Firmino was not a striker prior to Liverpool and while Klopp experimented with Firmino as a CF in his first year, he really didn't use him that way for the most part. Firmino mainly played 10/SS and even some on the wings in 15-16 and only over an extended time period did he become comfortable regularly playing as a 9 in Klopp's system as it evolved. It wasn't until the 17-18 season that he played almost exclusively as a CF.
That's the issue with Felix. He's more talented than Firmino but he's also like the 2015 version of Firmino that never really had played as a lone striker before. How quickly is he going to be able to do that, while also acclimating to a new league and new team? Unless its a pretty rapid adaptation then its a waste since you've only got him for five months.
Nah it's similar to how Martial plays now. Bruno isn't a classic 10, at his best he plays much more as a support striker with how much running beyond the backline he does. That works best with a striker that drops a bit deeper to hold up play/create like Martial does (and Felix would do) as opposed to Bruno playing alongside a striker that's always on the back shoulder of defenders.
If he is all that then why do they want to get rid of him?
Sounds like he doesn't fit Simeone's system,mind you no option to buy suggests they don't want to sell him permanently
Does this also apply to Varane and/or Casemiro?
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