Joao Felix Transfer Another Sign Of Chelsea's Transfer Market ...

HAMBURG, GERMANY - 2024/07/05: Joao Felix of Portugal seen during the UEFA EURO 2024 match between ... [+] Portugal and France at Volksparkstadion. Final score: Full time, Portugal 0:0 France and Penalty-Shootout Portugal 3 vs France 5. (Photo by Grzegorz Wajda/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Joao Felix already knows Stamford Bridge. He spent six months on loan at Chelsea in the second half of the 2022/23 season, scoring four goals in 16 Premier League appearances, and now the Portuguese attacker is heading back to the London club according to recent reports. Barring any complications, Felix will be announced as a Chelsea player in the coming days.

Not that Chelsea needs any more players. The squad at Stamford Bridge is bloated. No fewer than nine new signings have arrived in the summer transfer window with Felix set to raise that number to 10. There has been much discussion over Chelsea’s transfer strategy and it is no clearer now that Felix is about to join.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 25: Joao Felix of Chelsea scores the team's first goal during the Premier ... [+] League match between Manchester United and Chelsea FC at Old Trafford on May 25, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Felix has had a confusing career to date. Signed by Atletico Madrid in 2019 for a fee of €126m that made him the fourth most expensive player in soccer history, the Portuguese attacker struggled to find a role under Diego Simeone. Loan spells at Barcelona and Chelsea followed, but Felix’s struggles continued.

So why are Chelsea signing a player who has yet to prove he’s good enough for the elite level? Felix will turn 25 in November and can no longer be considered raw potential. He is now entering the portion of his career where potential must be converted into something real and Felix isn’t close to achieving this.

Chelsea is already over-stocked for attacking players in Felix’s position. Raheem Sterling was omitted from Enzo Maresca’s squad for Sunday’s Premier League opener against Manchester City with Mykhailo Mudryk left on the bench despite making the move to Stamford Bridge for €100m only 18 months ago.

NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND - MAY 11: Conor Gallagher of Chelsea looks on during the Premier League match ... [+] between Nottingham Forest and Chelsea FC at City Ground on May 11, 2024 in Nottingham, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

In truth, Felix’s move to Chelsea is designed to facilitate Conor Gallagher’s transfer in the other direction to Atletico Madrid which would permit the Stamford Bridge club to register pure profit on the balance sheet due to the midfielder being an academy graduate. The fee to sign Felix, on the other hand, can be spread across a number of seasons.

This is no way to run a club at the elite level of soccer, but Chelsea isn’t concerned by convention. Owner Todd Boehly likely sees himself as a disrupter, but he and his club is destabilising the sport in a way that could have a negative knock-on effect for both Chelsea and English and European soccer as a whole. Felix’s signing would be yet another sign of this.