Atletico Madrid has confirmed the signing of a promising 19-year-old Joao Felix for €126M from Portuguese club, Benfica.
This is the fifth richest transfer in football history after deals of Philippe Coutinho, Neymar, Ousmane Dembele, and Kylian Mbappe.
The Portuguese teenager also becomes the second most expensive teenager after French golden boy Mbappe, who moved from Monaco to PSG for a fee of 135M.
Atletico agreed to an amount that exceeded the player’s 120-million-euro buyout clause as they will not make the payment in a lump sum.
The LaLiga side will pay just 30 million euros for the 19-year-old this summer.
The remaining 96 million euros will be given at a later date, with 90 million euros of that completing the clause while the remaining six million euros acts as interest for the installment payments.
Porto will be owed a total of 1.2 million euros as Felix started out at their academy.
With Antoine Griezmann leaving Atletico this summer, the Spanish club was in the hunt for a high profile forward to lead next season’s attack.
Making felix the perfect replacement for a versatile player like Griezmann.
He will wear Antoine Griezmann’s No. 7 shirt at Atletico Madrid in 2019-20.
With Griezmann Is set to leave Atletico for La Liga champion Barcelona, Atletico has handed the shirt to teenage sensation Joao Felix.
Felix was amongst the top scorers in Portugal’s Primeira Liga last year. While he plays primarily as a striker, his versatility has also seen him selected on the wing and as an attacking midfielder.
He also became the youngest player to score a Europa League hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt
