Pundit says he’d love to see 24-year-old Barcelona star at Arsenal

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Jay Bothroyd has suggested that he would actually love to see Joao Felix join Arsenal in the future, as he insisted that he does not understand why the Barcelona loanee gets so much stick.

Joao Felix looks to be one of those players facing a fight to prove that he can live up to expectations and realise his full potential. The 24-year-old made his Benfica debut as an 18-year-old, and went on to score 15 goals in 26 league games.

That form probably alerted most of the world’s best teams. But it was Atletico Madrid who splashed the cash to sign the Portuguese. Unfortunately, his time with Atleti has never quite worked out. He has never reached double figures for goals in a La Liga season.

Jay Bothroyd would love to see Joao Felix at Arsenal

He spent the second-half of last season on loan at Chelsea. And he joined Barcelona on loan in the summer. Remarkably, he has now scored in both games against Diego Simeone’s men this season.

Arsenal wanted Felix before his move to Stamford Bridge. And speaking on The Optus Sport Football Podcast, Jay Bothroyd insisted that he would be very happy if Mikel Arteta made another move for the youngster.

“I don’t know why he gets a lot of stick. I’ll be honest with you, when he came to England and was playing, I really liked him as a player. The bits that I saw, he’s really intelligent, he plays in that number 10 role like Griezmann I would say. Not as good as Griezmann, but you can see that he’s still young and he’s got lots of ability. He’s got speed, he can shoot, he can score from anywhere. I think he’s the kind of player that’s going to get better as he gets older,” he said.

“I’d love to have him at Arsenal, coming off that left. Because he’s got that intelligence, he can see a pass, he can shoot, he can go both ways. I’d love to see him at Arsenal.”

Mikel Arteta may perhaps sense a future opportunity

In fairness, Felix probably ticks a few boxes for Arsenal. Of course, one of the best pieces of business Edu has done has been to sign Martin Odegaard.

Odegaard was struggling to really prove himself at Real Madrid. But that just opened the door for Arsenal to produce a transfer masterstroke.

Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta has thrived with players who have been written off by many, including Aaron Ramsdale and Kai Havertz.

So where some may look at Felix not realising his full potential as a warning, Arsenal may perhaps see it as an opportunity.