Joao Felix’s loan spell at AC Milan from Chelsea has been disappointing, with the Portuguese forward struggling to make an impact after Unai Emery pushed for his move to Aston Villa earlier this year.
Felix did score on his debut for Milan, helping them secure a 3-1 victory over AS Roma, but has failed to score or provide any assists in his eight matches since then across all competitions.
His performance in Milan’s 2-1 loss to Bologna on Thursday was harshly criticized by the Italian press, and he was dropped to the bench for Sunday’s home defeat against Lazio.
Milan initially took the lead against Bologna with Rafael Leao’s first-half goal, but Bologna made a strong comeback in the second half, scoring through Santiago Castro and Dan Ndoye. It was Felix’s third consecutive Serie A start since his loan move from Chelsea in January, but once again, he struggled to leave a mark.
After being substituted by Christian Pulisic in the 61st minute, Felix’s performance was labeled a “disaster” by many Italian journalists. Fabio Ravezzani, an Italian reporter, expressed his frustration on social media, stating, “Everything is going wrong at Milan. Joao Felix is as handsome as he is useless, Malick Thiaw is no better than him, and taking off Rafael Leao, unless he’s injured, is foolish.”
Corriere della Sera gave Felix a poor 4.5 rating for his performance, adding, “The worst on the field. You can’t see him, you can’t hear him. There’s never a play, and even his teammates avoid him.”
Felix had been a target for Villa during the winter transfer window, with Unai Emery eager to bring him in to replace Jhon Duran. However, Chelsea, unwilling to strengthen a potential rival for Champions League qualification, set a hefty £60 million price tag on Felix.
Earlier in the summer, Felix was also close to joining Villa before Chelsea secured his signing from Atletico Madrid for £46 million, ensuring that Conor Gallagher moved in the opposite direction.
