Joao Felix offered shock Chelsea exit route | OneFootball

Chelsea's Joao Felix could be handed a surprise exit route out of west London this summer, with Brazilian club Flamengo reportedly keen on acquiring the Portuguese playmaker.

While Felix didn't exactly set the world alight during his brief loan spell with the Blues in 2023, he was signed permanently in a £45m deal from Atletico Madrid last summer as Conor Gallagher moved in the opposite direction.

He notched just 363 minutes of Premier League action during the first half of the campaign, with new manager Enzo Maresca primarily using him in the Conference League and domestic cup competitions. Chelsea negotiated a loan deal with Milan at the end of the January transfer window, but Felix will not be signed permanently by the Rossoneri at the request of Sergio Conceicao, who might not even be at the club beyond the summer after a series of underwhelming performances.

With Maresca unlikely to integrate Felix once he returns from Milan, there are doubts over where the future of the once highly-regarded starlet lies.

Vene Casagrande was first to reveal that Flamengo are interested in offering Felix another chance to rejuvenate his career. The Brazilian giants are led by former Chelsea left-back Filipe Luis, who briefly crossed paths with Felix at Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2019.

'Fla' want to sign the 25-year-old on an initial loan with an obligation to buy at the end of the Brazilian season in December, and are aiming to have the Portuguese playmaker on their books for the Club World Cup this summer. Perhaps intriguingly, Chelsea face Flamengo in their second group game.

While the Blues would be happy to facilitate such a move, AS state Felix himself isn't keen. He believes there's still scope for him to succeed in Europe - even if he's struggled everywhere since departing Benfica in 2019 for a mammoth fee.

Felix proved to be a poor fit for Diego Simeone's Atleti, and there have only been fleeting glimmers of his brilliance at Chelsea, Barcelona and Milan since. Felix has scored just once in Rossoneri colours with the 2024/25 campaign winding down.