How much Joao Felix's red card against Fulham will cost Chelsea
By Tom Gott
Questions were asked over Chelsea's decision to agree to the expensive loan signing of Joao Felix, who joined the Blues from Atletico Madrid on a temporary deal with no option to buy permanently at the end of the season.
A £9m loan fee was paid and Chelsea also agreed to pay Felix's wages in full, which works out at around £6m for six months.
Critics laughed but it felt like it could have been a stroke of genius from Chelsea as Felix shone in the first half of Thursday's defeat to Fulham, providing the sort of bright spark that hasn't been seen in Graham Potter's side for months now.
And then he was shown a straight red card which ultimately cost Chelsea the game.
58 minutes into the game and with the scores level at 1-1, Felix was rightly given his marching orders for a reckless challenge on Kenny Tete, becoming the first player to be shown red on their Premier League debut since Federico Fazio for Tottenham in 2014.
A three-game suspension will now follow, and given how much Chelsea have paid for Felix's services, it's going to be a costly absence for the Blues.
With all costs factored in, Chelsea are paying roughly £715,000 per game in fees and wages for Felix's services, so they will end up parting with over £2.1m for the next three games even though Felix is unavailable.
Listen now as Scott Saunders hosts Graeme Bailey, Toby Cudworth and Tom Gott in the latest episode of Talking Transfers. This week they discuss Chelsea’s hectic transfer strategy, which includes a loan move for Joao Felix and interest in Romeo Lavia and Marcus Thuram among others, Man Utd’s pursuit of Burnley striker Wout Weghorst, Leandro Trossard’s Brighton future and more. Available on all audio platforms.
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The 23-year-old will miss games against Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Fulham, which only adds to the selection headache Graham Potter is currently unable to cure.
Christian Pulisic, Raheem Sterling and Armando Broja are all injured - midfielder Denis Zakaria joined the treatment table brigade with a quad injury against Fulham - leaving Potter slim when it comes to attacking options.
Kai Havertz, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Hakim Ziyech, Mason Mount and January signing Datro Fofana are the Blues' only options for the foreseeable future, although Chelsea are working behind the scenes to make more signings.