Barcelona targets Joao Felix after his loan with Chelsea ends

Joao Felix 'emerges as a summer transfer target for Barcelona following his loan move to Chelsea. Joao Felix will spend the rest of the season on loan at Chelsea but will return to Spain in June and is now reportedly a target for La Liga leaders Barcelona. Parent club Atletico Madrid is expected to sanction a sale for Felix in the summer, with a host of top European clubs likely to be interested in acquiring the highly-rated Portuguese talent. Barcelona is now keeping tabs on the 23-year-old with team manager Xavi and club chiefs admirers of the Madrid playmaker who currently finds himself on the sidelines at Chelsea, according to Sport. The Premier League side secured a big-money £9m loan deal with Atletico for Felix's services until the end of the season. However, his sending-off in his first debut for Graham Potter's side ensured he served a three-match ban. Cash-strapped Barcelona will be on the search for a new potent goalscorer at the end of the season following the January departure of Memphis Depay who headed in the other direction from Camp Nou to the Spanish capital. But Barcelona's stark financial limitations mean any such deal for Madrid's prized asset might be hard to work out given the club's embarrassing recent struggles in handing Gavi a grown-up contract. Felix has made 131 appearances for Atletico since joining the club for £113m from Benfica in 2019. Chelsea's next Premier League game with Fulham is the last for which he will be suspended before he is available again for the Blues' trip to West Ham on February 11.