"After two loans, Chelsea and Barcelona, I needed to stay permanently in one place," Joao Felix told Chelsea's official website after completing his £45.5 million ($59m) switch from Atletico Madrid on Wednesday. "There is no better place for me to be than Chelsea. I see a perfect place to shine. It was a little bit of a lot of things that made me want to come back: the project, the club, the league, the fans, the time I spent here that I loved. I’m really happy to be back."
Felix genuinely believes he's found his "permanent home" after five frustrating years in La Liga. He also vowed that his "best years are still come", albeit without acknowledging that he has massively failed to live up to expectations since his €126m (£107m/$140m) move to Atletico from Benfica back in 2019.
Clearly he hasn't paid much attention to what's been going on behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge this summer. The Chelsea "project" he is buying into looks like a complete mess. Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Capital group's reckless spending has been akin to a group of kids who have stumbled onto a briefcase full of cash; they don't seem to have any grasp of what it takes to build a successful club, or have any consideration for long-time traditions and the fans who follow the team up and down the country.
New head coach Enzo Maresca is now working with an over-inflated squad because of that misguided approach, packed with a total of 42 players after Felix's arrival. Competition for attacking places is especially fierce, and it's difficult to see how the 24-year-old fits in given he hasn't proven mentally or physically ready to deliver consistently at the highest level.