Benfica president Rui Costa sends clear message to Chelsea over Joao Felix transfer

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the Chelsea News

·14 de junio de 2025

Benfica president Rui Costa sends clear message to Chelsea over Joao Felix transfer

Benfica president Rui Costa has revealed he would be keen on signing Joao Felix but admitted it would be difficult to finance a deal.

Chelsea are once again set to be busy this summer and have already signed Liam Delap from Ipswich for £30m, with more new faces expected to follow.

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The Blues face a critical window and are still looking to add a versatile attacker, centre back and left winger to bolster Enzo Maresca’s squad.

Benfica can’t afford a deal for Joao Felix

Whilst incomings are important, outgoings are also vital this summer and the Blues have a number of players they need to offload.

Felix falls into that category despite only joining last summer from Atletico Madrid for £45m and signing a seven year deal.

He joined AC Milan on loan in January after starting just three league games over the first half of last season, and despite scoring on his debut things didn’t get much better, and Milan made it clear they wouldn’t be signing Felix permanently.

The 25-year-old was left out of Chelsea’s squad for the Club World Cup, meaning he’s free to play for another side in the competition if he completes a transfer before July 3rd.

Felix’s return to Chelsea simply hasn’t worked out. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Felix has been linked with a return to Benfica, and club President Costa has now shared his thoughts on a possible deal.

“Every year I get asked this question,” Costa said as quoted by Metro.

“If we could bring back players from our academy, who have the quality and prominence that a player like Joao has, we would all like that, all Benfica fans would like that.

“We have to understand two things. The players are not free, they have very high contracts with the clubs and very high transfer fees.

“The amounts involved, both in transfers and salaries, are very high and we have to respect that part.

Hugo Ekitike deal unlikely

With Felix heading towards the exit door Chelsea have been linked with Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike, although a deal looks unlikely.

Frankfurt are refusing to budge from their €100m valuation, a price Chelsea simply won’t match, whilst Liverpool and Manchester United are also said to be interested.

Chelsea have also been linked with Mohammed Kudus, Morgan Rogers and Nick Woltemade and it will be interesting to see if they move for any of them.