Chelsea and Aston Villa managers lock horns over transfer bid for Atletico Madrid star

Earlier in the summer transfer window, Aston Villa appeared as shock frontrunners to sign Portuguese attacker Joao Felix. The 24-year-old is highly rated by Villa boss Unai Emery for his versatility, being able to play anywhere across the attacking line.

But as the weeks have progressed, it is now Chelsea in the hot seat, having started negotiations while another deal between the two clubs - for England midfielder Conor Gallagher - collapsed. Now, it seems the Blues could get this deal over the line before the transfer window closes at the end of this month.

According to El Chiringuito, Emery is determined to get his man - and is “calling him daily” to try and get the move done. But Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is having none of it, and even took to the Evening Standard to make his stance clear.

Maresca said: “The only thing I can say, I have to say the same - they are not our players, so it's not correct to talk about a Napoli player or an Atletico Madrid player. The club knows exactly what I think and hopefully before the window shuts we can bring in some more players.”

Chelsea have already expanded their squad to over 40 players, with the likes of Ben Chilwell, Conor Gallagher and Raheem Sterling not even travelling to Stamford Bridge for the opening game of the Premier League season. Transfermarkt reported that €371.7m of talent was left out of the Chelsea squad on Sunday (August 18).

And yet, Maresca is planning to sign both Felix and Napoli striker Victor Osimhen this summer, despite already having strikers Nicholas Jackson, Romelu Lukaku and Armando Broja on the books.