Earlier this week, Portuguese outlet A Bola claimed that the Reds are targeting Joao Felix to come in for the Egyptian if the current Anfield star is lured to Al-Ittihad in the coming days.
However, according to the Italian, Jurgen Klopp’s side aren’t the 23-year-old’s first choice, and they’d only have a chance of signing the Atletico Madrid attacker if his preferred move doesn’t come off.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Romano posted: “Barcelona are prepared to activate the ‘operation João Félix’ in the next 48h — board working to find solution to make it happen with FFP.
“João, only waiting for Barça since that interview in July. He’d only consider other clubs or Saudi if Barça deal collapses.”
Having cost Atletico an astonishing €126m (£113m) to sign as a teenager in 2019 (The Guardian), Felix’s career hasn’t taken flight in the way he’d have hoped.
A loan spell at Chelsea last season saw him score just four times in 20 appearances (Transfermarkt) and receive a red card on his debut, with the Blues’ new manager Mauricio Pochettino passing up the opportunity to sign him permanently during the summer (Eurosport).
While the Portuguese attacker had clearly been a gifted young prodigy to have commanded a nine-figure transfer fee four years ago, he’s simply nowhere near the same level as Salah and can’t be considered as a replacement for the Egyptian.
Felix has netted 58 goals in his senior club career to date, four fewer than Liverpool’s number 11 has managed in the past two years alone (Transfermarkt).
In any event, following Romano’s update, it doesn’t seem as if the 23-year-old will be coming to Anfield any time soon; and even if he does, it certainly wouldn’t be his Plan A.
In that case, Reds fans would surely be content to see the Atletico man plying his trade elsewhere during the season ahead, irrespective of what happens with Salah.
