Manchester United have been handed a major boost in their pursuit of Joao Felix with Atletico Madrid reportedly set to listen to offers in January.
The 22-year-old joined Diego Simeone's side for a club-record fee of £114million from Benfica in 2019 but has struggled to live up the high expectations set for him.
The Portugal international now finds himself out of favour at Atletico, having only made 16 appearances so far this season, spending most of the last few weeks on the substitutes bench.
Felix has always been considered as a key part of the squad for the long-term future, but patience appears to be running thin.
The LaLiga side are now said to be willing to listen to offers on Felix in the January transfer window, according to Spanish newspaper outlet Cadena SER.
United have already shown interest in Felix on a number of occasions and no doubt Erik ten Hag's will go back in for him when the window opens.
Across his three full seasons at Atletico - plus the start to the current campaign - Felix has recorded just 31 goals from 127 appearances.
It's a disappointing return for the forward who became the fourth most expensive transfer in history after his move to the Metropolitano Stadium.
Given Atletico have already crashed out of the Champions League and are currently trailing well behind in the LaLiga title race, it could make finance sense for them to cash in on the youngster.
It has also been previously reported by Portuguese paper A Bola that Felix had 'lost patience' with Simeone' after he was asked three times to warm-up in Madrid's 0-0 loss against Club Brugge without being brought on last month.
That appeared to be the latest incident in a series of spats between the pair though, as the paper also reports that Felix fell out with the manager in 2021 after being picked when injured, a situation a medical expert linked to Atletico called 'bullying.'
Simeone's relationship with his starlet forward has been describes as 'irreparable', and the player could try and secure a move as soon as 'January.'