After completing deals to sign transfer targets Ferran Torres and Nathan Ake, the summer window shows no sign of slowing down as Man City continue to be linked with other star additions.
Indeed, the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Diego Carlos and David Alaba have all been mentioned alongside the City duo in recent reports, but the Athletic’s Sam Lee has now revealed that our squad could have looked even stronger if our ‘enquiry’ into a star prodigy came to fruition.
Should City have signed Joao Felix?
Yes, going to be a star
No, not for £113m
Lee, detailing in a ‘sensible transfers’ piece, claims that director of football Txiki Begiristain and the club approached Benfica star Joao Felix back in early 2019 – but City were unwilling to pay his lofty release clause and he was sold to Atletico Madrid.
Did we make a mistake?
The 20-year-old sensation, who has managed 21 goals in all competitions over the last two seasons, enjoyed a fine 2018/2019 campaign with Benfica and prompted Europe’s most elite clubs to sniff around.
However, appearing to be out of favour under Diego Simeone only 12 months after completing a record-breaking £113 million move, Felix faces a somewhat uncertain future at the Wanda Metropolitano – with Atletico now hoping the triple-figure sum will eventually be worth it.
According to Lee, City were ‘very keen‘ on Felix, but the fact Begiristain refused to pay his lofty release clause may speak volumes in terms of how far we were willing to go for the player.
What the pundits say…
Back in September 2019, ex-Lokomotiv Moscow coach Yuri Semin heaped praise on Felix’s ability and claimed he has the potential to be ‘bigger than Ronaldo’ as translated from Sport Express via BeSoccer.com.
While this seems slightly lofty, he was eventually sold for £113m, and that could draw attention to his sky high potential, with Semin seemingly worried about the threat he posed just before Lokomotiv’s group stage Champions League encounters with Atletico.
“He is going to be one of the future stars of world football, like Cristiano Ronaldo or maybe even more, because he still has much potential to grow,” explained Semin to the media.
“We’ll see on Tuesday if we can stop it.”
The final verdict…
It’s unclear whether the Sky Blues missed out on a future world beater given his mixed first season in La Liga, but as Pep Guardiola and co search for a striker, we might be left ruing what could have been a head-turning acquisition.