João Félix: From Benfica Wonderkid to Al-Nassr Star, and What Comes Next

So João Félix is trending in Nigeria today, and if you follow football at all you can probably guess why. The man is in the last year of his contract at Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal are being linked with him, Barcelona keep coming up, and on top of all that he just scored two and set up another in the Asian Champions League. People in my comments keep asking me if this is the same João Félix that Atlético paid all that money for. Yes. Same guy. Let me just put the whole story in one place.

Quick facts

• Full name: João Félix Sequeira
• Born: 10 November 1999, in Viseu, Portugal
• Position: Attacking midfielder or forward
• Current club: Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia
• Country: Portugal
• Former clubs: Benfica, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona (loan), AC Milan (loan)
• Big honours: La Liga 2020-21, Saudi Pro League title, two UEFA Nations League titles

Where it all started

He started at a small club called Os Pestinhas in 2007, then joined the Porto youth set up when he was just eight. And this part people forget, he was travelling up and down between Viseu and Porto all the time as a small boy, and by 12 he had moved out of his parents’ house to be near the training ground. He has said himself that there was a time he almost quit because he was not playing enough, and it was his father that convinced him to keep going.

Porto let him go in 2014, the story was that he was too skinny, though he has said he left on his own. In 2015 he moved to Benfica, their big rivals in Lisbon, and that move changed his life.

The Benfica season that made him famous

He made his debut for Benfica’s reserve team at 16 and was in the first team by 2018. In his first full season, 2018-19, he was just everywhere. Goals, assists, a hat-trick in the Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt, and Benfica won the league. He was 19 and every big club in Europe was watching him.

Then Atlético Madrid paid €126 million for him in 2019. That was a club record for them and one of the most expensive transfers ever at the time. He also won the Golden Boy award that year. So you can imagine the pressure on a 19 year old.

Atlético, Simeone and all the loans

Honestly, Atlético never really worked for him. He did win La Liga with them in 2020-21 and he was their Player of the Season in 2021-22, but his relationship with Diego Simeone was not good, and by the 2022 World Cup the club itself was saying it wanted to sell.

So the loans started. Chelsea in January 2023, where he got sent off on his debut against Fulham and finished with four goals. Then Barcelona for the 2023-24 season, and I think Barca fans still like him from that year. He scored against Atlético twice that season, home and away, and he got the winner against Porto in the Champions League, his first club.

In August 2024 Chelsea signed him permanently, but he was mostly a rotation player there. By February 2025 he was on loan at AC Milan, scored on his debut against Roma in the Coppa Italia, and then faded a bit, and Milan did not keep him.

Al-Nassr and the big comeback

In July 2025 he joined Al-Nassr for an initial fee of around £26 million. A lot of people said that was the end of him at the top level. I mean, I thought so too if I am being honest.

He scored on his debut in the Saudi Super Cup against Al-Ittihad, scored a hat-trick on his league debut against Al-Taawoun, and by the end of the season he had 20 goals and 13 assists, Al-Nassr won the league, and he was named Saudi Pro League Player of the Season. That is not a man who is finished.

And this season he is still going. He recently became the first Al-Nassr player to set up four goals in one game, against Al-Khaleej. Then in the Asian Champions League this weekend, with Cristiano Ronaldo not playing, he got an assist and two goals as Al-Nassr won 6-2 away to Pakhtakor in Uzbekistan.

Portugal

For Portugal he has been around since 2019. His first cap came in the Nations League semi-final against Switzerland in June 2019 and Portugal went on to win that tournament at home. He has been to two Euros and two World Cups, including this year’s World Cup, and he won the Nations League again in 2025.

He scored his first World Cup goal against Ghana in 2022, which some of you reading from Ghana will remember well. The low point was Euro 2024, when he was the only Portugal player to miss in the shootout against France.

Career timeline

• 2015: Joins Benfica from the Porto system
• 2018-19: Breaks into Benfica first team, wins the league
• 2019: Joins Atlético Madrid for €126 million, wins Golden Boy, first Portugal cap
• 2020-21: Wins La Liga with Atlético
• 2023: Loan to Chelsea, then loan to Barcelona
• 2024: Permanent move to Chelsea
• 2025: Loan to AC Milan, then joins Al-Nassr in July
• 2025-26: Saudi Pro League champion and Player of the Season
• 2026: Plays at the World Cup for Portugal

So why is everyone talking about him now

The main thing is his contract. It runs out in the summer of 2027, which means from January he can talk to other clubs. Reports in Saudi Arabia say Al-Nassr want to use a clause to extend him to 2029 with a pay rise. At the same time a former Al-Hilal official went on a TV show and said he hopes Félix stays in the Saudi league, and that it would be good if Al-Hilal could sign him. Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli also got mentioned.

Then Barcelona. Félix has said before that he would like to go back there one day, and Spanish papers say Barca would like him on a free transfer, but their money problems make it hard. Nothing official has happened with any club so far, it is all reports and talk.

He turns 27 on 10 November. For a player people wrote off two years ago, he is in a very strong position right now, and the next few months will tell us if he stays in Saudi or tries Europe one more time.