João Félix’s career reads like a grand European tour—Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, AC Milan—but not one stop has ever truly felt like home. The Portuguese forward’s talent is unquestionable, yet his trajectory feels increasingly shaped by moments of misfit and misjudgement. That narrative continues with reports, originally from Record, suggesting Benfica—his boyhood club—are plotting a loan swoop to bring him back to Lisbon, in time for their Club World Cup campaign.
The move would be symbolic as much as strategic. Félix, once Europe’s golden prospect, left Benfica as a teenager in 2019 for a seismic £113 million fee.