MANCHESTER, England (AP) — João Félix took his total transfer cost to around $260 million Tuesday when completing his latest move — this time to Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.
The Portugal forward has teamed up with compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo, joining from Chelsea for a reported initial fee of 30 million euros ($34.6 million) and signing a two-year contract.
“I’m here to spread joy. Let’s win together,” Félix said in a video announcing his arrival, shared on Al Nassr’s social media channels.
He is the latest star player from Europe to move to Saudi Arabia as part of the kingdom’s bid to become a major force in soccer. But his transfer from Club World Cup winner Chelsea is the latest in a long line of moves for a player who holds the record for the fourth most expensive signing in history, but has failed to live up to the expectations placed on him so early in his career.
Still only 25, Félix has time to hit the heights he seemed destined for when joining Spanish giant Atletico Madrid from Benfica for $140 million in 2019. But his career has stalled since then with a series of loans to top teams including Chelsea, Barcelona and most recently AC Milan failing to see him establish himself among the very elite.
According transfer date website Transfermarkt, Félix is behind only Neymar (222 million euros ($256 million)), Kylian Mbappe (180m euros ($208 million)) and Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele (both 135m euros ($155.8 million)) on the list of highest transfer fees in soccer.
His value has dropped significantly — joining Chelsea for a reported $60 million last year, with his fee almost halving again to join Al Nassr.
The move to Saudi Arabia is not guaranteed to reignite his career. While some have flourished, including the likes of Ronaldo and Aleksandar Mitrović, Neymar left after an injury-disrupted time at Al-Hilal and Jordan Henderson and Jhon Durán only stayed for months before moving on.
Al Nassr will hope Félix’s arrival will see it win the title it has been waiting for since signing Ronaldo in a spectacular move late in 2022.
While the Portugal great has helped raise the profile of Saudi Arabian soccer and continued to score at a prolific rate, he has had to watch rivals Al Ittihad (twice) and Al-Hilal crowned champion during his time in the league.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
