Like a migratory bird, Portuguese star João Félix has moved on again after only half a season at Chelsea. Will he ever stick around for a whole season at Stamford Bridge?
Flighty Félix
Félix's first spell with the Blues, a loan from Atlético Madrid in January 2023, ended about as well as it started. Félix was sent off in his first appearance and banned for the next three games. Four goals in 20 appearances weren't enough to convince Chelsea hierarchy to make the move permanent. It was with some head scratching, then, that the Portuguese was signed on a permanent deal only 15 months later.
The deal to bring Félix back to Stamford Bridge was purely a financial one. Conor Gallagher needed to go the other way for the PSR benefit of "pure profit" - selling an academy player. Atlético would only do the deal if Chelsea took a player the other way. The Portuguese was brought back for cold, hard, business reasons.
Could he really be surprised when he wasn't given a place in the main starting XI? The entire deal was done to appease the accountants. Félix was signed ten days before the transfer window closed, after the Premier League season had already started. It was always going to be difficult for Félix to break into the first team when he missed going through a full pre-season to adapt to the new coach and staff with the rest of the group.
The move to AC Milan will be great for Félix the player. Champions League football will surely have been a big draw, despite the Rossoneri floundering in eighth in Serie A.
Félix has scored seven goals in his 20 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions this season. However, he's only made nine starts for the Blues. If he can get more starts for Milan and put together some decent form, then perhaps he will return to London with momentum to break into Chelsea's A-Team. Félix signed a seven-year contract in the summer, and with six remaining years there's still plenty of time to make a mark.
The A-Team
Very early in the season, with question marks on the Chelsea squad size, head coach Enzo Maresca made it very obvious that there were three groups at Chelsea. Two playing squads were being drilled and trained in the Maresca philosophy, but a clear line was drawn for the unneeded players.
Nicknamed the "bomb squad," the likes of Trevoh Chalobah, Ben Chilwell, and Raheem Sterling were on the outs. It was left to these surplus players to figure out a move away. Chalobah left on loan to Crystal Palace and Sterling to Arsenal. Chilwell, however, spent the first half of the season in exile before leaving in the January window for a loan to Crystal Palace.
The playing squads were clearly delineated into two groups. Maresca's preferred XI, the A-team, were reserved for the Premier League. The backup XI, the B-team, would step up for cup competitions. The likes of Félix, Nkunku, Veiga, and Disasi were in the second group. One can hardly believe these players dreamt of coming to Chelsea to play in a backup squad. Nkunku, in particular, has been surrounded by rumors of dissatisfaction. The other three players mentioned in this group have all left Stamford Bridge on loan for the rest of the season.
Creating an A-Team/B-Team mentality is unavoidable when Chelsea have so many talented players and only eleven spots on the starting lineup. However, it puts a lot of tension in the dressing room and on the training ground. Players are human beings with egos, frustrations, and ideas of their own. It's not surprising that several players looked for a way out.
Squad Scramble
Chelsea's transfer identity continues to readjust and realign in the BlueCo era. Record spending levels from the first four transfer windows seem a long time ago now. The now-closed January window was quiet from an incoming standpoint. The outgoings tell a more worrying story.
Renato Veiga joined Chelsea on a permanent deal from Basel last summer. He's impressed in the B-team, and become a solid, reliable midfielder. He left on a loan deal to Juventus for the rest of the season. Italian midfielder Cesare Casadei, who joined Chelsea's U21 team from Inter Milan in 2022, played in five of six Conference League games. Casadei left on a permanent deal to Torino.
The much-criticized Axel Disasi started all nine of Chelsea's cup competition matches so far this season, in addition to four Premier League starts. Disasi has gone to Champions League breakouts and next season hopefuls Aston Villa for the rest of the season. Add João Félix to this list, and the B-team is much worse off for the business-end of the season.
Matters are worsened by UEFA rules permitting only three squad changes in the Conference League. Of the 25-man squad named at the start of the season, five players have left the club mid-season. This means Chelsea's attempt to go deep in Europe's third-tier competition will be with the slight disadvantage of two fewer players than their opponents.
These outgoings highlight a problem with Chelsea's transfer approach. Players brought in for accounting reasons, such as Félix, are not willing to wait around for a chance to play; there's a misalignment between business needs and football needs. The longer the misalignment continues, the more problems it will create on and off the pitch.
If rumors are to be believed, new Tottenham loanee Mathys Tel rejected a move to Chelsea for the same reasons Félix and co sought to leave. Players will be wary that a move to Chelsea means a move to the B-team, even if only at first. With each new signing the chances of first-team football at Chelsea shrinks. Already there's talk of big money spending in the summer for a variety of positions, which can only nag at the back of B-team minds.
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