After having a brilliant start to his Barcelona career, Joao Félix has revealed he never adjusted to Diego Simeone philosophies at Atletico Madrid.
The Portuguese forward who joined Barcelona on a season-long loan from Atletico earlier this month has scored three times in his first two starts for the Catalonia side.
At Atletico, despite being signed for €126 million in 2019, Felix never quite lived up to the billing during his four seasons playing under Diego Simeone.
He spent the entire second part of last season on loan at Chelsea where he scored three goals.
“When things are going badly in football for someone, you have to make a change,” Félix said in an interview with Mundo Deportivo on Thursday.
“I did it before going to Chelsea [on loan in the second half last season] and now coming to Barcelona because it was not going well [at Atletico].
“I didn’t adapt to the club’s or the coach’s ideas, but I always tried to do the best I could. I have had good times there as well.”
Before joining Barca, Felix turned down several Saudi Arabia interests and also took a substantial wage cut due to Barca’s financial problems.
“It’s true I gave up a significant part of my salary, but I needed a change,” he comfirmed.
“I needed to come to a place where I can play my style of football and I have always said I think this is the ideal place.
“Things are going well — I didn’t expect to start so well — and it was an effort I needed to make to be able to find joy playing football again.”
Félix scored in his first game against Real Betis last weekend, and he added two more goals in Barcelona’s Tuesday’s 5-0 Champions League victory over Royal Antwerp.
