West Ham’s Michail Antonio has raved about the ability of Joao Felix after playing against the Chelsea attacker last week.
Felix scored his first Blues goal last weekend with a fantastic volley in a 1-1 draw away to West Ham in the Premier League.
The 23-year-old attacker put in another eye-catching performance in last night’s 1-0 Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund, but was just missing the clinical touch in front of goal.
Certain sections of the Chelsea fanbase are already hoping the club will try to turn his loan deal from Atletico Madrid into a permanent one in the summer.
Joao Felix compared to Eden Hazard
West Ham striker Antonio, 32, was really impressed by Felix after playing on the same pitch as the Chelsea talent last Saturday.
When asked to name Chelsea’s best signing, Antonio told The Footballer’s Football Podcast: “Joao Felix, he’s a player, mate. He is a player, like running the game, number 10, popping up in the 6 role, everything was going through him, he was quality.”
Afterwards, Antonio even made a comparison between Felix and Blues icon Eden Hazard.
He said: “He reminds me of Hazard from Chelsea, when Hazard was at Chelsea. How he has been controlling the game, how he has been running. The first game he played when he got red carded he was unreal in that game as well. It’s not just the game against us he did it either, he did it in the very first game so he’s shown his quality.”
Felix is bringing the kind of individual magic that’s been missing at Chelsea since Hazard’s departure in 2019.
The Blues now have a forward in their ranks that gets supporters excited whenever he’s got the ball at his feet.
There’s a lot to love about the way the Portuguese star is dropping into very smart areas of the pitch in-between the lines, which is where he’s been so effective getting the team on the attack quickly.
Rio Ferdinand has suggested he could be a possible option to play as the striker in the months ahead. It would be a real shame to restrict his movement and creative freedom, though.
Let’s hope Graham Potter allows Felix to keep through the gears in the No.10 position.
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