Chelsea outcast Joao Felix is on the brink of joining AC Milan on a loan.
The 25-year-old has started just three Premier League games this season after joining Enzo Maresca’s side from Atletico Madrid for £46million in the summer.
Aston Villa had expressed interest in signing Felix this January with president of football operations Monchi last week revealing that the club had tried to bring him to the Midlands ‘practically every market’.
But after Villa instead did loan business for Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio, Felix is now likely to move to Italy with Chelsea receiving a £4.5m fee. AC Milan will cover Felix’s full wages for the remainder of the season.
Atletico signed Felix from Benfica in 2019 for a remarkable £113m before the forward fell out with manager Diego Simeone and moved on loan to Barcelona and Chelsea.
Felix missed Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat by Manchester City last month after being granted compassionate leave to fly home following a family bereavement.
Joao Felix fires in against Morecambe in the FA Cup, one of his seven goals this season
The Portuguese had also attracted interest from Aston Villa but is now set to move to Italy
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca insists he rates Felix but can’t find a place for him in his side
Speaking on Felix’s absence and struggles for game time this season, Maresca said after that match: ‘For sure, Joao is a Chelsea player.
‘The problem, unfortunately, for Joao and Christo (Nkunku), the manager plays most of the games with one attacking midfielder and that is Cole Palmer.
‘We have decided to play with an attacking midfielder in most of the games, so this is the reason why Joao and Christo struggle to get minutes – not for any different reasons because they are both fantastic players, fantastic guys who work well.
‘The reason why is only because most of the games I decide to play with one attacking midfielder in terms of balance. This is the reason why.’