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One moment of indiscretion has enormous consequences, not only sportingly, but also financially. The Portuguese João Félix (23) was brought in as a savior at Chelsea, but messed up in his debut match by immediately getting a red card, resulting in Chelsea losing against Fulham (2-1) and the Portuguese attacker being suspended for three matches. Daily Mail calculated that the price tag of that red card is 2.4 million euros. Ouch.
Michael Van Damme
Chelsea went a long way to rent João Félix from Atlético Madrid until the end of the season. It will take over his salary until the summer, good for about 6.7 million euros, and on top of that paid a rental fee of about 10 million euros to Atlético.
Daily Mail calculated that João Félix costs around 800,000 euros per game to Chelsea, as a result of which the club sees 2.4 million euros lost due to his three days of suspension.
It is particularly sour because Felix was the best Chelsea man on the field against Fulmham, barely a day after his loan deal was completed, until he suddenly went full on the leg of Kenny Tete in the 58th minute. There had to be no VAR involved: this was dark red.
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Chelsea manager Graham Potter, who is under even more fire because of the defeat, defended his acquisition. “It was an attacker’s action. It didn’t look like an emotional move, it was uncontrolled and with the speed of the Premier League something like that can happen. He had no intention of hurting anyone and he didn’t lose his head in that tackle.”
“These are learning moments. João is a young player. There was no malice in it at all, but I can see why it was red. His foot came up too high and the referee has to make a decision. The blows keep coming. João was good, he is a top player and has shown his qualities. That is why it is very disappointing that we have now lost him for three games.”
On Sunday, Chelsea, which is barely tenth in the Premier League, will face Crystal Palace without Felix.
