The European giant who lost millions because he allowed Joao Felix to escape “for being too thin”

Joao Felix, star of the season at Atlético Madrid, has struggled to play in the ranks of the main forces in Porto

Joao Felix is ​​one of the key figures in Atletico Madrid, who plays Manchester City, on Wednesday. The second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals will be played at the Wanda Metropolitano and the English arrive in the Spanish capital with an advantage in aggregate score after winning the first leg 1-0.

The best player in league In March 2022, the Portuguese scored seven goals in his last ten matches. A success that would make the European giant regret not paying more attention to the player.

“At the age of eleven, Joao was wanted by Benfica and Porto. He chose Porto, but Benfica was always aware of his biography. When he reached the under-16s, he did not play because he was too thin and physically weak,” he said. Renato. paivaformer youth coach Benfica a ESPN.

“the father joao He threw himself in front of a Benfica spectator, saying that the boy was sad and wanted to leave Porto. At the end of the season, we left and went to sign him for the U-17 team.”

Soon the coach of Joao Felix’s first in “Aguilas Rojas” was impressed by the qualities of the young man.

“I didn’t know him personally yet, and in the second or third practice he did an incredible series of actions. I looked at my assistant and said, ‘Do you think the same thing as me? That’s not normal. How does he do it? Leave the Porto A player like that to go? “What he did was out of the ordinary.”

“He played in any offensive position in our team. Once they asked me: ‘What position do you play?’ “Technical, he knows how to play one-on-one, he has a great shot, a pass and a vision of the game. He was our team’s top scorer.”

“He is very humble”

Joao Felix made his first-team debut for Benfica in August 2018 and has become one of the team’s top scorers of the season, scoring 20 goals.

He became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in history European League When Benfica multiply the Eintracht Frankfurt 4-2 in the quarter-finals of the tournament. In addition, he was the youngest player to score in a derby between them Benfica s Sporting.

With only one season in the first team, he’s sold out Atletico Madrid in mid-2019 for 127 million euros. In three seasons, the Portuguese scored 29 goals and 13 assists and won league in 2021.

Even with all this success, the striker has not forgotten his roots.

“joao He has amazing humility. I was a coach for the under-19 national team Benfica, who was to face Tondela on Wednesday afternoon. When I got to the dressing room, I was talking to my coach and the Tondela players. This reveals a lot about his personality.”

“When he made his B-team debut in League Two, he called me and brought me the shirt. It was something I wasn’t expecting and that’s what drove me to this day. I keep this shirt with great affection. Joao has wonderful parents, they are educators and they have given him A great education as a person.”

Renato He says he also received a letter from Joao Felix in 2020 when he won the Ecuadorean title with Del Valle.