Chelsea has confirmed the recruitment of Portugal and Atletico Madrid attacker Joao Felix on loan for the remainder of the season.
Meanwhile Madrid have at the same time announced that the player will nonetheless renew his contract with them and will likely return after the loan expires.
Joao previously played for Benfica before switching to the Spanish capital in the summer of 2019, for a record fee of £120million.
The 23-year-old made 131 appearances for Atletico, netting 34 times and providing 18 assists. He reportedly left the team due to feuds with head coach Diego Simeone and playing time.
On moving on loan to Chelsea, the skilful and stylish attacker, said: ‘Chelsea is one of the great teams in the world and I hope to help the team reach their objectives, so I am very, very happy to be here and very excited to play at Stamford Bridge.’
Joao Felix was part of the Atletico side which claimed La Liga two seasons ago and as a teenager at Benfica, he was also a league champion, in his debut season.
Chelsea edged out competition from Premier League rivals Manchester United and Arsenal to capture the Portugal international and will pay a £11million loan fee for the striker.
Chelsea have been hit with injury crisis in recent weeks and will expect Joao’s arrival and the other three January acquisitions — Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos and Datro Fofana to reinforce the squad.
The Blues sits in an unaccustomed 10th position in the league with 25 points, ten points off the top four.