João Félix is a truly incredible talent. How many #10's in football are so special technically that they're considered an outlet? How many #10's are ferocious ball-strikers on both feet, or have crazy acceleration?
He needs to be released from Simeone/Santos' shackles..
THREAD!
He needs to be released from Simeone/Santos' shackles..
THREAD!
Joao Felix has spent his early years in his career playing for a defensive Atletico Madrid team under Diego Simeone and a defensive Portugal side under Fernando Santos. For a #10 profile like himself, he couldn't be in a worse environment. He needs to be freed.
Joao Felix has unique ball-carrying and dribbling qualities which make him an outlet. He's like Messi or Neymar in the sense that they don't often run in behind so aren't outlets because of their physicality but are outlets because they're so uniquely special technically.
Felix can turn so loosely and fluidly that it's abnormal. Players don't feel comfortable pressing him even when he's in unfavourable conditions like when he has his back to goal with pressure behind him.
The angles in which he operates are limitless and his dribbling is wild.
The angles in which he operates are limitless and his dribbling is wild.
The Portuguese man has the defenders on strings when he has the ball at his feet. He operates at a low centre of gravity whilst being able to turn in any direction AND possessing a deceiving burst of acceleration to break free from his man.
His ball-carrying/dribbling is elite.
His ball-carrying/dribbling is elite.
He's like peak Eden Hazard in transition - the guy was never a Salah or a Mané profile who could get his teams up the pitch through runs in behind, he was a guy who had the physicality to hold defenders off and burst past them if needs be whilst being an unstoppable dribbler.
Dribbling is nice, but often times technical #10's don't make it at the elite level because they lack the well-roundedness to succeed in or fit into a tactical system. Nah, not Joao. He uses his deceiving acceleration to run in behind in central areas to offer a goal threat.
Not only that, but his ball-striking on either foot is abnormal. The power Joao Felix generates with such little back-lift on either foot is absolutely unbelievable - it's truly special. That also enables him to play crisp passes and create with ease. He's a daft profile. So good
Think Firmino except more technical, and Firmino is *absurd* technically. I've seen very few players as good as Roberto Firmino as an efficiently technical #10/false 9, but Joao Felix is even better than that technically whilst being quicker and a more ruthless output threat.
Now, with that absurd talent comes its negatives. What made Roberto Firmino a crucial #9 before a Premier League and Champions League winning Liverpool was his work rate. Felix isn't as hard-working as Firmino, but the right coach can facilitate him in the right environment.
And when I say facilitate I don't mean complement - Felix may be special but he lacks the physicality from a pure explosive speed perspective that a Messi or a Neymar has to operate out wide and dictate attacks. He's a technical #10, more so akin to Phil Foden or Roberto Firmino.
That means if he is to truly make it he has to work hard. He has the physicality to press, so it's not a matter of physical deficiencies that will be his downfall - it is merely attitude.
I'm not saying his attitude is suboptimal - I actually think his work ethic isn't an issue.
I'm not saying his attitude is suboptimal - I actually think his work ethic isn't an issue.
I am merely suggesting that it could be a reason as to why he doesn't fulfil his ungodly potential. #10's often struggle to make it for elite teams in the modern game but Felix has too much quality to miss out.
He's crazy special - a #10 who's an outlet & TOP 'scoring potential.
He's crazy special - a #10 who's an outlet & TOP 'scoring potential.
All Joao Felix needs is a conducive structure to operate in. He has been criminally mismanaged thus far in his career, and is the closest thing to an outlet Atletico Madrid often have on the pitch and he's a #10. He well and truly has to do it all on his own at times.
Unfortunately for Felix, he is a player that needs specific conditions to succeed. Where he would be suited (in the assumption he works hard) is a Klopp 4-3-3 in the false #9, a Pep/Arteta/Xavi/Enrique 4-3-3 in the #9, or a #10 role in a 3-2-5 under a Flick, for example.
That can often be a difficult situation for a player to find the optimal environment because often times coaches go for more complete forwards (Haaland, Nunez, Jesus) as opposed to specialists in the #9 (Foden or Bernardo at City in 21/22 or Firmino at Liverpool for so long).
The approach with Felix in the #9 for Arteta's Arsenal or Pep's City, for example, would be to exert total control via domination of the ball by having him drop deep to overload teams & pin them back.
The goals in the team need to be spread out with Felix in the #9.
The goals in the team need to be spread out with Felix in the #9.
Salah and Mané's dynamic with Firmino at Liverpool is another example of how he can be used.
In the #10, though, he can play from the left half space which arguably suits him best with a left back occupying the width on the wing (Cancelo-Foden, Raum-Musiala, Tierney-Smith-Rowe).
In the #10, though, he can play from the left half space which arguably suits him best with a left back occupying the width on the wing (Cancelo-Foden, Raum-Musiala, Tierney-Smith-Rowe).
He could also operate in the right half space in a Smith-Rowe-esque role at Arsenal where he overlaps, attacks the box from deep, and plays a more direct role in possession where his angles are more limited because he's not as comfortable facing the left as he is the right.
However, what is most likely for him is in the #9 or in the LHS in the 3-2-5, but for that to work the team he has to join needs specific conditions around him such as pure technical control for a Pep-based style or runners in behind either side of him in Klopp's narrow 4-3-3.
However, it's not like Felix is a player who can only excel in a team who exclusively dominate possession - he's a transitional monster, and that makes his profile more feasible for the top clubs, but the options for him club-wise out there aren't great right now. They're all set
City have Haaland and Alvarez, Arsenal have Jesus and Nketiah and likely won't fork out an extortionate fee (even a loan one) to have a third centre forward (although he would work in the #9 there given the right XI around him), or Liverpool - if Firmino leaves, that's an option.
But does he have the work rate to play Klopp's false #9 role? Time will tell. Lewandowski also recently just signed for Barcelona and to sign a player who'll likely cost £100m to play in the left half space in a 3-2-5 isn't feasible for most clubs (apart from City with Grealish).
Bayern could do with a #9 like him and he would excel in a 4-3-3 or in Nagelsmann's 3-2-5, but Nagelsmann is similar to Graham Potter in the sense that he regularly changes tactics so although the environment would be far better for Felix, they wouldn't be reliably optimal.
Either way, the guy has so much quality - he just needs to find the right environment. A player with Felix's skillset is so rare, so it would be a great shame for him to go underutilised.
It'd be like peak Firmino never matching with Klopp - what a sad reality that would be!
It'd be like peak Firmino never matching with Klopp - what a sad reality that would be!
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