Aston Villa ‘surprisingly’ ahead of Arsenal, PSG in Felix race as Jorge Mendes ‘welcomes’ move | OneFootball

Aston Villa are in a strong position to complete the sensational signing of Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix, according to reports in Spain.

Felix’s time with Atletico looks like it is coming to an end after a fallout with manager Diego Simeone.

There are a host of top clubs monitoring the player’s situation as a result.

Manchester United, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are all believed to be interested.

Competition is fierce, yet Aston Villa seem to fancy their chances here.

Atletico signed Felix for a whopping €127.2million from Benfica three-and-a-half years ago.

He has become a fan favourite in the Spanish capital, though he has been unable to play his best football in what is a very pragmatic system under Simeone.

Differences in philosophy could be what has seen Felix and Simeone’s relationship deteriorate, with a transfer next year looking more likely by the day.

After the La Liga side paid such a huge fee for the Portuguese forward, they are hoping to receive more than €100m if they sell him, according to Fabrizio Romano.

While Aston Villa have proven to be very ambitious in recent years, this could be too much money for them, and given the amount of interest in Felix, they will surely struggle to complete the signing.

Having said that, Spanish media seem to think that they have a great chance, especially given their recent managerial appointment of Unai Emery.

Marca recently claimed that Villa are ‘very well positioned’ to sign Felix, though Birmingham Live journalist Ashley Preece thinks the signing is ‘unrealistic’.

According to Larazon, Felix’s agent Jorge Mendes – who also represents Cristiano Ronaldo – ‘welcomes’ the idea of the 23-year-old joining the Villans after the World Cup.

In what should be a huge boost for Emery’s side, Atletico are apparently willing to let him leave on loan in January with an option to buy at the end of the season.

The report notes that Atleti rejected a whopping €100m bid from Bayern Munich last summer and are hoping to recoup the €127m they spent on him in 2019.

Despite interest from Arsenal and PSG, Felix is ‘close’ to joining Aston Villa – who are 12th in the Premier League after 14 games.

Newcastle are also in the running, the report states, but a move to Old Trafford is the player’s ‘preference’.

Having said that, it is claimed that a move to PSG is the ‘most likely’ scenario for the 23-year-old Portugal international.

Once again, it is said that Atleti would be willing to let Felix join a club on loan next month with an option to buy in the deal.

Felix is likely to start for Portugal when they take on Morocco in the World Cup on Friday, with the winner taking on England or France in the semi-finals.