Chelsea agree £9.7m Felix 'deal' with Atletico man to 'fly to London within hours'

Joao Felix will fly to London for his medical in 'the next few hours' after Chelsea agreed a loan deal with Atletico Madrid for the striker, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

The Blues have been searching for his signature for several weeks with reports claiming that Arsenal and Manchester United are also considering the possibility of completing the deal.

Some claimed Atletico Madrid were asking for up to £19m to sign Felix on a month-long loan, but Romano has now revealed Chelsea have cut them back to €11m (£9.7m).

Romano insists Felix has agreed a contract extension at Atletico Madrid and will undergo a medical after flying to London 'in the next few hours'.

The transfer expert wrote on Twitter: "Joao Felix to Chelsea, let's go! Full verbal agreement reached, loan move on €11m fee with 100 % of salary covered by Chelsea. Before leaving, Felix will extend his contract with Atléti until 2027. João will fly to London in the next few hours to undergo medical tests and sign."

Rangers legend Ally McCoist called the deal 'absolute madness' with Chelsea needing someone who can play as a centre-forward.

"It's interesting. I can't believe they're paying £9m for a loan now, £9m for a loan, that's what's going on. Absolute madness", McCoist told talkSPORT.

"I like Joao Felix, I don't think he's the solution to Chelsea's problems, they need a centre-forward. Also, I don't think he's consistent enough.< /p>

"I watched him closely during the World Cup and I thought he did some brilliant things, I thought he had a good game or two, but that's the 'one of those players, to me, that makes you want a little more.'

One person who will be happy that Man Utd didn't spend the £9.7m needed to sign Felix will be Patrice Evra, who wants Man Utd to "look lousy".

Evra told Betfair: "I love Joao Felix and I loved the great World Cup he had," Evra told Betfair. "I'm quite surprised things didn't work out with Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid, but he's a fantastic player.

"If he moves to the UK he will enjoy playing in the Premier League in any team. I don't want to talk about him as a target for Manchester United because every time we talk about United goals , they never end up signing.

"He's a great player and if he's not happy at Atletico, the Premier League will welcome him with open arms.

"We need to replace Cristiano Ronaldo's 20 goals so it makes sense that we need another striker. We can play Martial, Garnacho and Rashford but we need a killer, someone who lives for goals.

"I don't care if they perform, I just want them to score goals. That's why I don't think Joao Felix is ​​the right type of player for United at the moment.

"I don't want United to be beautiful. With players like Felix, people will say how beautiful we are with the way we play, I don't care.

"I want us to look ugly and have a player like Filippo Inzaghi and people say 'who the hell is he, he can't even dribble', but at the end of the season, he has scored more than 20 goals. Where will we find this kind of striker? That is the question.

"You don't bring in a player just to make the fans happy or for business. Right now they have to bring in someone who comes just to score goals."

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