Portuguese sensational forward Joao Felix is one of the players in football history with a slight frame. This, however, has not been a hindrance to his scintillating display, a thing that FC Porto failed to consider.
The 19-year-old started his career at Os Pestinhas before joining the youth ranks of Porto where he spent seven years. Porto reportedly released him in 2015 to Benfica for no good reason other than his skinny body.
Felix debuted professionally for Benfica’s reserve team in LigaPro on 17 September 2016 at the age of 16. Over that season, he played 13 matches and scored 13 goals. He scored his first hat-trick on 30 January 2018 in a 5-0 home win against Famalicao. The Portuguese forward was then called to the Benfica’s first team at the start of the 2018-19 season.
He managed to score 15 goals and provided 9 assists to help his club lift the Primeira Liga title. His sparkling moment came when he scored a hat-trick against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League in April, becoming the youngest Benfica player and the youngest Portuguese footballer to score three goals in Europe and the youngest player ever to do so in the competition.
He got a breakthrough in November last year when he signed a new deal with his club which included a 120m euro release clause that Atletico Madrid were able to activate.
The Spanish club confirmed the completion of his signing for a whopping 126m euros (£113m) and Benfica have officially stated that the Los Colchoneros will pay the amount in installments after bidding 6m euros more than the 19-year-old’s release clause.
Felix now becomes the second-most expensive teenager of all time after the 180m euros paid to Monaco by Paris St-Germain for France forward Kylian Mbappe in 2018. This also is the fifth-most expensive transfers in history. Only Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele have moved for more money.
READ: Joao Felix sets an incredible record after signing for Atletico Madrid