Joao Felix becomes Chelsea's 10th rookie this summer, and the 43rd signing since Todd Boehly took over. The 24-year-old's arrival comes just hours after Conor Gallagher moved to Atletico Madrid for £36 million.
Including the contracts of Felix and Gallagher, Chelsea will accumulate an estimated total net spend of more than £800 million under their American owners. This is almost double the total of any Premier League team over the same period.
Felix will have to compete for an attacking midfielder or striker position with Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez, Christopher Nkunku, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Nicolas Jackson and Pedro Neto. In addition, not to mention other options like Omari Kellyman and Marc Guiu.
Until now, Raheem Sterling, Romelu Lukaku, Armando Broja, Carney Chukwuemeka, Cesare Casadei, Angelo Gabriel, Deivid Washington and David Fofana are still players on Chelsea's payroll.
Of course, the Blues can sell many of those players before August 30. However, with long-term contracts already signed, it will not be easy for them to do this.
To date, Felix has spent most of his career playing behind the striker or on the left wing, including 20 games at Chelsea in the 2022-2023 season. However, these are the positions that Nkunku and Neto look set to occupy at Stamford Bridge.
Before being loaned to Barcelona, Felix had a bad time at Chelsea with only 4 goals. However, if you look at the statistics, Felix is one of the bright spots of the Blues in the 2022-2023 season.
Felix was also unlucky to join Chelsea at a time when they were at their lowest, only winning 4 of the matches when Graham Potter and Frank Lampard were in charge.
The 24-year-old striker has not met the requirements under Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid over the past few seasons. However, if we calculate the average number of goals per 90 minutes, since 2019, only Alvaro Morata and Luis Suarez have better statistics than Felix at Atletico.
Felix was also a regular starter at Barcelona last season. After 44 matches, the Portuguese striker scored 10 goals and 6 assists. Perhaps, it was the huge transfer amount in 2019 that created invisible pressure on Felix.
The La Liga team spent more than 100 million pounds to recruit the then 19-year-old player after a breakthrough season at Benfica. Not only Felix but most players will struggle to meet expectations from that huge number.
Like many of Chelsea's recent signings, Felix is a gamble. If Maresca can succeed - which Simeone, Potter and Lampard have to some extent failed to do, then the £46.3 million will be considered worth it.
But Chelsea has also invested a significant amount of money in many other attacking players. And certainly, they cannot all play at the same time. In his second full season as coach, Maresca must solve this problem.
