After Moussa Diaby To Al Ittihad, Aston Villa Aims For Joao Felix

Atletico Madrid player Joao Felix while still playing for Barcelona. (X/@FCBarcelona)

JAKARTA - Aston Villa surprisingly released attacking midfielder Moussa Diaby to Al-Ittihad. After selling Diaby, Villa immediately hunted down Atletico Madrid forward Joao Felix.

Diaby actually achieved success in her Premier League debut. This French player was recruited from Bayer Leverkusen for 52 million. Diaby's purchase broke the club's transfer record.

The high price of this 25-year-old player is worth his contribution to The Villans. He played up to 54 times and scored 10 goals and made nine assists.

Diaby's collaboration with Strikewa Watkins led Villa to penetrate the top four in the English Premier League and was entitled to appear in the 2024/2025 Champions League season.

This is Villa's first appearance in Europe's highest caste competition since 1983. At that time Villa was the defending champion after beating Bayern Munich 1-0 through Peter White's goal, the former coach of the Indonesian national team. Watkins' brilliant performance was inseparable from Diaby's contribution. As a result, the striker who strengthened England at Euro 2024 successfully scored 27 goals in various competitions.

Despite making impressive achievements, Villa actually released Diaby to Saudi Arabia. Although the purchase broke the club's record transfer, the price of Diaby was actually still lower than when Villa bought it from Leverkusen. Yes, Al-Ittihad successfully brought Diaby for 50 million.

After releasing Diaby, Villa immediately hunted down the players. Unai Emery's manager also took aim at Felix, a winger who was still rejected by coach Diego Simeone.

Simeone still did not include Felix in the team design after returning from Barcelona on loan. Ironic that Felix is Atletico's most expensive player. The Portugal national team winger is also ranked fourth as the most expensive player in the world.

Barca had wanted to make Felix permanent. But Barca finally prefers to hunt down Nico Williams and Dani Olmo rather than buy Felix.

Villa also had the opportunity to recruit this 24-year-old player to replace Diaby. According to Sport, Villa has already negotiated with Atletico for Felix's recruitment.

It's just not yet known whether Villa is the third club to borrow Felix or buy him permanently.

If an agreement is reached whether borrowed or purchased, Felix will return to England. Previously, he had been borrowed by Chelsea for half a season.