Joao Felix claims he can ‘maintain a good level’ at Barcelona, and admits he struggled to achieve that at Atletico Madrid and Chelsea before his loan move this summer

Joao Felix has revealed he has been able to ‘maintain a good level’ since joining Barcelona, after admitting his struggles to hit the mark with Atletico Madrid and Chelsea.

Felix joined the Catalan giants on a season-long loan on deadline day after falling out-of-favour with Diego Simeone at Atletico, and spending the second half of last season at the Premier League Blues.

The 23-year-old has made a stunning start to life with Xavi’s Barcelona side, scoring three goals and adding three assists in eight appearances in all competitions.

As reported by 90min, Felix was delighted at the way things were going with his new club, and said he was finally able to ‘maintain a good level’.

He said: ‘As you can see, I’m happy where I am, I feel good, confident and I feel like I’m going through a good moment. The most difficult thing is to maintain a good level, something that I have not achieved for some time in recent seasons.

The Portuguese forward admitted he struggled to reach a good level at Atletico Madrid

‘But I work every day and I always try to improve to correct those less positive aspects of myself. And yes, I am happy and going through a good time.’

Felix moved from Benfica to Atletico Madrid for £119m in the summer of 2019, and he remains the second-most expensive teenager in the world after Kylian Mbappe. 

But he struggled to get going with the club, and failed to hit double figures in a single La Liga season, hampered by injuries and disagreements with boss Simeone.

His loan spell at Chelsea remains most memorable for the Portuguese player getting sent off on his debut, while the club finished 12th in the Premier League.

Mail Sport previously reported that the forward got put on an annual salary of just €400,000 (£345,000) when he arrived at Barcelona, such was his desire to force through the ‘dream’ move.

Within the contract, there was a stipulation that his salary would be increased once Barcelona’s financial status allowed it, and now he will earn €4million (£3.45million) for the rest of his season-long loan, a 900 per cent increase.

However, his new salary of £66,345 per-week is still dramatically lower than the €280,000 per-week (£250,000) contract he was reportedly on at Atletico, where he is still under contract for another six years.

Felix had a difficult loan at Chelsea after falling out of favour with Atletico’s Diego Simeone

The 23-year-old has scored three goals in eight appearances since joining Barcelona