Barcelona have decided to keep Joao Felix

"We have the whole season to prepare a proposal that allows us to keep Joao Félix. We are very happy with his performance and he is a player who is well-liked in all areas of the club," Barça sources told SPORT.

The performance of the Portuguese striker since he arrived at the club on the last day of the market has been top. He is undisputed either as a winger on the left flank or as one of the two most advanced players in Xavi Hernandez's squad in some matches. He has played in eight games, seven of them as a starter, scored three goals and provided three assists.

Such good numbers only confirm that Deco's firm commitment to him, with the full support of club president Joan Laporta, who has always been in love with Joao Félix's game, has been a success. For this reason, Barça have already decided to do everything possible to continue to count on the Portuguese from next season, when the player's current loan ends and he must return to Atletico Madrid.

Also for this reason, as Catalunya Ràdio reported, the club has decided to update the Portuguese's salary. When he arrived at the beginning of September, a salary of 400,000 euros was agreed with the player and his agent, Jorge Mendes, which is well below what a player of his quality earns, but forced by the club's financial problems. Once the accounts were closed and given that LaLiga imputed a salary of four million euros to Joao Félix for Fair Play purposes based on a series of parameters such as the Portuguese player's salary at Atletico Madrid, Barça proceeded to update the salary.

Joao Félix is now paid four million euros, exactly what La Liga calculates, which does not affect Barça's Fair Play margin, but below what the Portuguese player received as a player at Atletico, around eight million euros.

With the salary updated and Joao Félix offering great performances, the club, with the help of Jorge Mendes, are already starting to design a strategy to keep the Portuguese next season. They have the striker and his agent as allies at Barça. Also Diego Pablo Simeone, who does not count on the Portuguese. The most important obstacle to overcome is Miguel Ángel Marín. Atletico Madrid paid in 2019 for Joao Felix 126 million euros to Benfica and the owner of the Madrid club wants to recover an decent part of that investment.

Barça would like to take Joao Félix, who has a contract with the Colchoneros until 2029, on loan, but knowing the difficulties they still have with Fair Play, they are not ruling out renewing the loan and, this time, taking out an option to buy. In any case, it is still too early to decide how to carry out an operation that has begun to be designed, as extra income can always come to the club. What is clear is that Barça want Joao Félix to stay. And that the player wants to continue.