The Portuguese boy wonder
A global superstar in waiting or a classic case of too much too soon?
Recent history shows that it could go either way as Joao Felix follows in the footsteps of Bernardo Silva and Renato Sanches in making the journey from Benfica’s famed Seixal academy to one of the world’s biggest, richest and most high-profile clubs. While Silva is thriving at Manchester City, Sanches is struggling to piece his career back together after three wasted years at Bayern Munich.
With such sharply contrasting examples to hold up as evidence, the projected success of Felix’s move to Atletico Madrid has been heatedly discussed in the Portuguese media, with opinions ranging from it being a natural step up for a generational talent to it being a bad decision given the defensive style associated with Diego Simeone’s teams, where the attacking flair that Felix possesses in abundance will take a back seat to physicality and tactical rigidity.
And that is before any mention of the transfer fee itself, which accounted
