Fabrizio Romano: Aston Villa top target 'says yes' to Chelsea transfer - report

Transfer guru Romano in a post on X on Monday morning said: "João Félix has already said yes to Chelsea return. His agent Jorge Mendes was informed yesterday.

"Negotiations ongoing between Chelsea and Atléti, as revealed last night — it’s up to Chelsea now."

Felix's return to Stamford Bridge comes after Romano broke the news that Chelsea and Atletico Madrid had discussed Felix returning to Stamford Bridge, with Conor Gallagher heading in the opposite direction. Chelsea were unable to conclude a deal for Samu Omorodion, and have now set their sights on Felix, with Atletico in the final stages of wrapping up a deal to Man City’s Julian Alvarez who is set for a medical ahead of his proposed move to the Spanish capital.

News of Felix reportedly agreeing a move to West London comes as a blow as Aston Villa were 'really pushing' to sign Felix this summer according to Romano who said that in a video. According to CaughtOffside, Villa were planning to make an offer worth around €60m ‘to test their resolve’ but now it remains to be seen what Villa might do after claims that he has already agreed on a move to their Premier League rivals. Football Insider said that Felix was a ‘top target’ for Villa and that Unai Emery is a ‘huge’ fan of the Portuguese international.

Despite the uncertainty over his future at the Metropolitano Stadium, Felix has got on with things, and scored just minutes after coming on as he netted in a 2-0 win over Juventus at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg. It was his second goal of pre-season after scoring against Getafe earlier this month.

The 24-year-old that was signed by Atleti for £113m in July 2019, is the fourth most expensive signing in the history of club football, but despite his move to Atleti, he has found himself out of favour. He spent most of last season on loan at Atleti's league rivals Barcelona, and discovered his form with 10 goals in 44 games. They wanted to re-sign him, but instead signed Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig.

Felix had a six-month loan spell at Chelsea in the 2022/23 season, and their transfer team had been interested in re-signing him, but Mauricio Pochettino decided against it, according to Fabrizio Romano.