Manchester City and Manchester United were both offered Joao Felix this summer but decided against a move due to his ‘bad experience’ at Chelsea.
That’s according to AS, who say the Portuguese forward could have ended up back in the Premier League if his agents’ efforts had come to anything.
Felix is currently at Barcelona after joining them on loan in the summer from Atletico, who were keen to get rid of him following a falling out with Diego Simeone.
A deal was done late in the window as Barcelona moved various things around to open up the money to sign the forward on loan for the season.
That came at the end of a long summer in which Felix’s future was a hot topic, though, after he had returned from an unsuccessful loan spell at Chelsea.
That ‘bad experience’ had seen his once high reputation fall even further and seemingly put off Manchester City and Manchester United, who were ‘contacted’ by agent Jorge Mendes about a possible move.
They’d watched Felix’s struggles in England between January and the end of the season and that experience ‘made it impossible’ for the two clubs to take him into account.
They instead went elsewhere, with Manchester City sticking with what they have and Manchester United spending their money on the likes of Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund.
Felix then ended up at Barcelona on loan, where Atletico are hoping he can revalue himself and draw in suitors as they eye up a potential €80m deal next summer.
He’s had an okay, not tremendous start to life at the Camp Nou, a place where he ended up when the Premier League ultimately decided against him after his miserable time at Chelsea.
