Reveal: Felix Took ‘Huge’ Paycut To Make Dream Barca Transfer Possible 

Joao Felix has acknowledged that he accepted a significant wage cut to move from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona and that he is open to making a permanent move.

The Portugal international forward made his way to Camp Nou on an initial season-long loan agreement towards the end of the summer window. He never shied away from the fact that Barca were his “dream” club – much to the annoyance of some of those in the Spanish capital.

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Felix, who was on loan at Chelsea for a portion of last season, revealed to Mundo Deportivo that he made personal sacrifices in order to join the defending La Liga champions: “It’s true that I forfeited a sizable portion of my pay, but I needed a change. I needed to move somewhere where I could play the kind of football I do, and I’ve always said this is the perfect place. I wasn’t expecting things to get off to such a good start, but it was an effort I had to put forth to be able to enjoy playing football once more.”

Felix has registered three goals and an assist through three appearances for Barca in La Liga and Champions League competition and would welcome the opportunity to stay on in Catalunya if Atletico play ball in future negotiations. He added: “Well, for me it depends on how the season ends. Afterwards, Barcelona is the one who has to negotiate with Atleti and that depends after Atleti, if they want to make things easier or not. But those are business things, values, which I don’t get involved in. I do my job on the field, I try to do my best so that they want to sign me in the end and that thing about values, whether I go or not go or for how much, doesn’t interest me.”

Felix’s contract with Barcelona does not include a purchase option, therefore the 23-year-old, who joined Atletico for €126 million (£109m/$134m) back in 2019 – is going to have to play his way into contention for another big-money move.