Arsenal are reportedly willing ‘to make a hole in their squad’ to sign Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid.
The 22-year-old – who joined Diego Simeone’s side for £115m from Benfica in 2019 – was left on the bench as the La Liga side only managed a 0-0 draw with Club Brugge on Wednesday.
He’s said to have grown increasingly frusrated with the style of football under Simeone and is now targeting an exit in January.
And Fichajes (via Sport Witness) claim he could be off to Arsenal, where they would ‘make a whole in their squad’ for him as manager Mikel Arteta wants to add ‘more gunpowder in attack’.
It’s thought Arteta’s philosophy would be ‘more in line’ with how the Portugal international plays.
It’s claimed a move to the Emirates would be ‘the best option’ for Felix from a sporting point of view, though it’s unlikely they will be in a position in January to ‘make a huge offer’.
Manchester United and Chelsea, who may be able to offer Atletico more for the forward’s services, are also thought to be keen.
Simeone defended his decision to leave Felix on the bench against Club Brugge.
“First I thought: we are going to finish the match with Cunha on the right, Joao on the left and Morata up front,” he said.
“But then I saw that they had to the strength to get out with counter-attacks, because of the nervousness that was being generated by our desire to win the match, and wanting to attack, and I understood that strength in the middle of the pitch could give us more security, given that Griezmann started to run out of energy.
“For attacking, he [Joao] was good, but in order to sustain [the attacks] Axel came on.
“I think that it went well in terms of what we were looking for, which was sustaining the team in attack, continuing to have chances, continuing to play the match in order to not lose it and go out of the Champions League… In this back and forth of choice I took that decision.”
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