Joao Felix cost Chelsea £4m per goal and £750k per appearance during loan spell

Chelsea forked out close to £4million for every goal Joao Felix scored during his loan spell at the club - and a staggering £750,000 per appearance.

New Blues boss Mauricio Pochettino has already decided against triggering a permanent deal for Felix, who joined on loan from Atletico Madrid in January for an initial £9million, following his appointment as head coach on Monday.

Reports also indicated the west London club would be covering the entirety of his Atletico wages during that time, which are understood to be worth £250,000 per week.

However, Felix then got off to the worst start imaginable when he was sent off on his debut for a dangerous tackle on Fulham's Kenny Tete.

The straight red card ensured he would miss their next three fixtures, representing an immediate financial blow to Chelsea after their significant spend on a six-month transfer.

Upon his return, the Portugal forward opened his Blues account with a cool finish away at West Ham, yet he only went on to score three more goals in another 14 appearances, while failing to register an assist.

Felix struggled for consistency and end product in the second half of the season, squandering a number of golden opportunities in the final third, and when Potter was dismissed as head coach at the start of April he subsequently fell out of favour under caretaker manager Frank Lampard.

Lampard only afforded the Atletico loanee three starts in his 11 matches at the helm, although he did mark two of his substitute appearances with goals against Bournemouth and Manchester United.

As he now prepares to head back to Madrid after his brief stint in London, Felix is estimated to have cost Chelsea a total of £15million across six months; working out as £6million in wages as well as his £9million loan fee.

Breaking that down even further, his underwhelming return of four goals means Todd Boehly and Co effectively paid £3.75million for every goal he scored and £750,000 for each of his 20 appearances.

The 23-year-old only helped Chelsea win four matches, which also equates to £3.75million per victory. And in terms of minutes - Felix racked up a total of 1,187 - the Blues spent an incredible £12,000 for every 60 seconds he spent on the pitch.

Yet with Pochettino not willing to integrate him into his squad next season, he will now return to parent club Atletico, where he is under contract until 2027.

One dilemma Pochettino may have considered when weighing up a potential deal for Felix is his ambiguous playing position, something Lampard alluded to before a recent defeat at Arsenal.

While flexible in being able to operate as a false nine, No 10 or a winger, it is unclear which role suits the Atletico star best, which forced Lampard to leave him out of his starting line-up on several occasions.

'There's no doubt he has huge talent,' the caretaker manager said about Felix on Sky Sports. 'That is really visible in training daily in those moments showing what he can do around the box.

'I think probably for me coming in I need to find a clear structure and a clear off-the-ball idea for how we work, and that's the challenge with Joao.

'I agree, and if you ask him also he's not definite - he wants to play here but he can also play here - which can be a plus at times but when he's not definitely a nine, I need what looks like nine, for me, for the way I want to play. Those are the things that Joao needs to show, whether it's here or wherever his future is, I don't know that.