Atletico Madrid believe Joao Felix-Barcelona statements were a result of family intervention

Atletico Madrid were not best pleased with Joao Felix after he went out of his way to publicly declare his desire to play for Barcelona this week. However they do not believe it was a strategised move from his agent.

Felix is represented by super-agent Jorge Mendes, with whom Atletico share good relations. Cadena Cope say that within the club, they do not believe that Mendes would have blindsided them, and in fact are of the opinion that he himself was unaware of Felix’s intentions to go public.

In fact, they feel it was caused by an increasingly tense Felix and his father, who feel that the talented forward is not being treated well by Atletico. As such they want to force an exit.

Yet Cope assure that Atletico will not be swayed by Felix or his father’s attempts to extract him from the Metropolitano, and will continue to demand at least the €65-70m that Los Colchoneros still have to pay from his contract and transfer fee.

Barcelona appear open to a deal, but as is the case with so many potential deals, have no means of committing to an operation as things stand. Felix and Atletico were already seeking a solution to his situation, but it looks even more untenable now, although Los Rojiblancos have shown with Antoine Griezmann sitting on the bench at the start of last season, they are unlikely to cave to pressure.