Chelsea has informed Atletico Madrid that they will pay the necessary £10 million loan fee, and the two clubs are now close to agreeing on a deal to bring Joao Felix to Stamford Bridge.
With the Blues also agreed to pay his full £270,000-per-week salary for six months, which would cost £6m, the 23-year-old is now anticipated to relocate to west London.
It is unclear if Chelsea and the Portugal international, who is valued at over £88 million, have reached an agreement on a purchase option.
Before it fell through, the west Londoners were closely collaborating with Felix’s agent, Jorge Mendes, on a club-record deal to recruit Enzo Fernandez from Benfica.
Although that agreement fell through, Felix’s desire to join one of the “Big Six” Premier League clubs in January is now anticipated to be realised following a dispute with Diego Simeone, the manager of Atleti.
Chelsea will approve the transfer despite a forward line injury crisis that includes Raheem Sterling having a hamstring scan and Christian Pulisic missing many weeks with a knee ailment.
With the addition of Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Chelsea’s injury list now stands at 11 players. Manchester City defeated Chelsea 4-0 in the FA Cup third round on Sunday.
With the Blues now in tenth place in the league and ten points outside of the Champions League qualification spots, they will be hoping that Felix can help preserve the club’s season.
To replace the void created by the departing striker Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United had considered signing Felix, but they decided he was too expensive. Widely anticipated is that they would now take advantage of Burnley striker Wout Weghorst’s loan agreement with Besiktas.
Arsenal received a forward bid as well, but they concentrated all of their efforts on acquiring Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk.