João Felix's move from Benfica to Atletico Madrid was a disaster. After an impressive first season in Portugal, Felix signed at Atletico Madrid in 2019 for a record €126 million. The 22-year-old scored 15 goals and assisted seven times in 26 games in the Portuguese Premier League before being signed by Diego Simeone to replace Griezmann on his way to Barcelona. While the former Benfica star showed off his unquestionable talent, he was unable to replicate Griezmann's impact on the team, so much so that the Argentine boss re-signed the Frenchman last summer.
Felix scored just 13 La Liga goals in his first two seasons at the club and now finds himself sitting on the bench on a regular basis. So it's no surprise that the Portugal international is unhappy with life in the Spanish capital. In addition, recent news suggests that his team believes there are "many reasons" behind the current predicament, which infuriates his manager and may have reached the point where there is no turning back. To be sure, Simeone's lewd playing style makes it difficult for him to be a data-sleek striker, not to mention that Felix doesn't seem to be at the level of Griezmann and Diego Costa over the years. Age is still An advantage for Felix, who did contribute to Atletico's La Liga title last season, but it seems the Wanda Mets' top brass has seen enough.
Felix made Atletico pay a transfer fee of 126 million euros, while his annual salary was reportedly 3.5 million euros (67,000 euros per week). He has been in Madrid for two and a half years, so it is conservatively estimated that he paid the club around 135 million euros during his time in Madrid. That's a conservative estimate, as he'll have a lot of bonus incentives and signing fees. Based on the amount of 135 million euros, we can calculate that Felix spent 9 million euros for every goal in La Liga (15 goals in 73 appearances). If you count his goals in other competitions, that cost can be reduced to €6.1 million per goal (22 goals in 98 appearances). He had 12.2 million assists per assist (11 assists in 98 games). At the same time, for every appearance made by the Portuguese at Atletico, the club paid €1.38 million (98 appearances).