Chelsea’s Joao Felix has already made his stance on joining Tottenham clear, as the north London side have reportedly shown an interest in raiding their rivals.
Felix has found minutes hard to come by under Enzo Maresca at Stamford Bridge this campaign. And as Ange Postecoglou’s side remain active in the rapidly closing transfer market, one surprise name that has emerged on their list of potential recruits is Portuguese forward Felix.
Having joined the Blues for £44.5million in the summer after a loan spell with them in 2023, new boss Maresca hasn’t found a regular place in his starting XI for the star, who once moved from Benfica to Atletico Madrid for £144m. Now, it is suggested that Felix will likely move on from the Blues before the window closes.
The Telegraph reports that Chelsea could look to offload Felix on the final day of the window and that both Spurs and Aston Villa are sides that have shown an interest. However, they also suggest that the Blues would be far more likely to offload their forward to a club outside the Premier League, such as AC Milan, as they would prefer not to do business with a direct rival.
Yet Felix has, in the past, made it quite clear whether he would be open to switching to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In 2019, before he became one of the most expensive signings of all time and made his move to Atletico, the 25-year-old was linked with Spurs.
After his move away from the Portuguese capital, he was asked whether – though it had not come to fruition then – a move to the north London club would ever be on the cards, and his response was telling.
"I don't know, maybe one day," replied Felix a little over five years ago, hinting that perhaps Spurs are a club he wouldn't turn down playing for. It remains highly unlikely that the tricky forward will switch from the west of London to the north before the windows closes, though. But as the player himself has admitted, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility at some stage.
Postecoglou's side have already been in reported conversation with their rivals over a move for defender Axel Disasi – which has since collapsed.
Meanwhile, speaking in January, Maresca made it clear that Felix and Chelsea’s talisman, Cole Palmer, cannot play together. He stated: "The only thing I've said since the start of this season is that it's difficult to play him [Felix] with so many attacking players.
"In my opinion it means that if Joao plays, it means Cole doesn't play. Or, if Joao plays, he has to play with Cole together, but it depends on the game. For me, it's quite easy, we have three players but they are more or less similar; Cole, Joao and Christopher Nkunku.
"Joao played some games, Christo [Nkunku] also played, and they both started against Ipswich and Southampton they played, Leicester they played. Some games they can both play together, but not every game because every game is a bit different."