Barcelona have tried signing Portuguese wonderkid multiple times in the past

Joao Felix may not have had the best of careers since making the big-money move from SL Benfica to Atletico Madrid. But, that has not affected his stock in the transfer market, with several admirers still keeping an eye on the Portuguese wonderkid.

Barcelona have been one of the most ardent suitors of the 22-year-old. The Catalan giants’ president, Joan Laporta, openly admitted to have tried to sign the forward during the summer transfer window last year, only to be met with a firm rejection by Atleti.

However, that is not the only time that the Blaugrana have tried to sign Joao Felix. Indeed, as reported by GOAL, Barça have attempted to land the Portuguese international on three separate occasions, only to end up missing out on him at every try.

The first of the three attempts came during the 2019 summer transfer window but Atletico Madrid blew away Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid to sign Joao Felix from Benfica in a massive deal worth €127.2 million.

The second time that the Blaugrana tried to land the 22-year-old came when they asked the Rojiblancos to loan him after the versatile forward had failed to get going under Diego Simeone at the Wanda Metropolitano.

While the timeframe of this attempt has not been mentioned in the report, it could have been during the summer of 2020.

And, finally, the third attempt was made in the summer of last year, as iterated earlier. Laporta & co. tried to engineer a swap deal with the Colchoneros that would have seen Felix arrive at Camp Nou and Antoine Griezmann move the other way, but the La Liga champions rejected the proposal.

In the end, though, Atletico Madrid did end up signing Griezmann on loan from Barcelona, but Joao Felix stayed put. And after a slow first half of the season, the 22-year-old has burst into life in recent months.

The Catalans continue to hold an interest in the former Benfica wonderkid, but Atletico remain firm on their stance – Joao Felix, who has a massive €350 million release clause – is not for sale.