Barcelona 'reach agreement' with Atletico Madrid for Joao Felix transfer

In a major development, Luis F Rojo of MARCA is reporting that Barcelona have reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid for the loan transfer of Joao Felix.

The 23-year-old Portuguese international will be a Barça player as soon as the personal guarantee provided by the club is approved by La Liga, the journalist claims.

Felix had been angling for a move to Barça for a long time now and club president Joan Laporta was also very keen on making the transfer happening.

Felix on his way to Barça

Despite manager Xavi having some concerns about the operation, the club hierarchy seemingly convinced him to go ahead with the transfer, especially with the club needing reinforcements in attack in light of Ansu Fati’s impending exit.

Atletico Madrid were holding out for a loan fee of €8 million and wanted the Catalans to cover his entire salary.

The update from Luis Rojo does not specify whether these conditions have been met or a different set of terms have been agreed upon.

But, Felix, who was understood to be willing to take a pay cut to join Barcelona, is on the cusp of getting his dream move.

Due to the delays in the payment arriving from Libero Football Fund, the Barça board have had to provide personal guarantees to be able to sign and register players.

On Thursday, it was suggested that the club had already sent the details related to a personal endorsement worth €20.2 million to the league which was already approved.

However, that does not appear to be the case. Instead, as per Luis F Rojo’s update claims that the endorsement has been sent today and as soon as it is approved, Felix’s arrival will be ascertained.

Felix not in training

Joao Felix has not participated in training with Atletico Madrid, with reports suggesting that his absence was due to ‘personal reasons’.

Those reasons appear to be his wishes to complete the operation to sign for Barcelona, which now appears to be only a matter of time.

However, it must be noted that as per Gerard Romero, Atletico Madrid are denying reaching an agreement with Barcelona for the Portuguese international. So, more concrete updates on the situation are awaited.