‘Hardly any sign of him’: National media rips into Arsenal target for dismal weekend showing

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Arsenal might be pushing to try and sign Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid, but anyone watching on against Barcelona last night won’t have been impressed.

Felix played for Atletico from the off, despite being out of favour under Diego Simeone. The Portuguese forward was seemingly given the chance to impress.

However, in a 1-0 defeat to the Catalan side, Felix was ineffective. He was taken off around the 70th minute mark and did little to show why Arsenal should sign him.

Spanish media tears into Joao Felix

Never ones to hold back, the Spanish media are known for being harsh on certain players. They’ve done it with Gareth Bale for years, and Felix was the latest to take the wrath of news giant Marca.

Writing about the game, Marca claims Felix has now ‘complicated’ any potential move, such was the poor nature of his performance last night.

“As every game since in November Joao Felix communicated on the noble floor of the Metropolitano that he could not stand Simeone anymore and that he wanted to leave. The Portuguese played his particular match in which to be able to revalue, convince Manchester United and Arsenal to loosen the quarters and incidentally demonstrate to the world, even more with the focus of Barcelona, that El Cholo is wrong with him,” Marca wrote.

“However, his 73 minutes have only complicated Jorge Mendes and Atletico the exit operation. Let’s see what arguments the representative puts on the table. To see how the red-and-white club becomes strong after there were hardly any signs of him on the green.”

TBR’s View: Felix performance a microcosm of time in Madrid

It’s just never worked out for Joao Felix at Atletico. It’s been evident for a while now as well. After spending north of £100m on him, Los Rojos Blancos haven’t seen anywhere near what they wanted.

For Arsenal, this could be a worry and this one performance was a poor one. However, that’s not to say they shouldn’t sign him.

Sometimes a player just needs a fresh start. Arsenal can provide that for Felix. And in Mikel Arteta’s more attacking set up, he might just flourish.