It is the worst-kept secret in football that Manchester City will soon be in the market for a new attacker.
Following the failure the sign Harry Kane last summer, Pep Guardiola has not hidden his desire to have a number nine to work with. He has accepted how brilliantly his side has played this season without one, but insists that with a striker they could be even better.
Another open-goal of a statement is that City are keen on Erling Haaland and Dusan Vlahovic, two 21-year-old strikers who have scored shed loads of goals over the past year or so.
However, there is a slightly more left-field option who could be more in keeping with City's current style of creative attackers who can switch and rotate across the attacking front.
Joao Felix burst onto the scene in 2018/19, when in 25 league games he tallied 15 goals and 10 assists during his first year with Benfica's first-team.
Everyone, including City, was after his signature, but it was Atletico Madrid who stumped up €126m to take the 2019 Golden Boy winner to the Spanish capital.
It's fair to say that things have not gone strictly according to plan in the two-and-a-half seasons since.
Adapting to life in a Diego Simeone team is no mean feat, especially for attacking players of Felix's ilk. At Benfica Felix was a free-spirit who enjoyed license to create and score by any means he saw fit. At Atleti there is a way of doing things, a collective structure that while Simeone has tried to build attacking creative freedom into, tends to fall back to its defensive ways of old.
That isn't to say that Felix hasn't enjoyed success at the Wanda Metropolitano. After an understated 2019/20, Felix began his second season in fine form. Alternating between playing as a second striker and a number 10 in a 3-5-2 formation, the Portuguese star scored five goals and provided three assists in the opening seven games of Atleti's LaLiga campaign.
The change in system - the 4-4-2 set-up the previous year forced him out of position - and the arrival of veteran striker Luis Suarez benefitted Felix and Atleti, who went on to win the LaLiga title in May 2021.
Yet questions remain over his adaptability, discipline and health.
A mixture of Covid-19 and ankle injuries have disrupted Felix's time in Madrid, the latter a potential red flag for City as they conduct their scouting research.
When it comes to playing style, it does seem that Felix would be better suited to playing under Guardiola at City.
"For me João choosing to join Atlético was always an odd one from a style point of view,” Spanish football journalist Sam Leveridge told La Liga Lowdown earlier this season. “Simply because it means he has to work harder to fit in and won’t have the same freedoms other coaches might give him.”
The thought of Simeone shackling a young, free-willed and expressive attacking jewel to a rigid system is enough to send shivers down any football purist's spine.
But could he find a new lease of life at City?
First things first: Felix is not an out-and-out striker, so he would not be a like-for-like replacement for Sergio Aguero, or a straight alternative to Kane or Haaland.
But what he would bring to City is further positional flexibility. In signing Felix, Guardiola could go all-in with his no-striker approach, assembling a dizzying array of forward players capable of playing anywhere across the front three, leaving defences dumbfounded as to what their roles in any given match will be.
Felix is an excellent dribbler and passer, and while his decision making in and around the penalty area needs some work, Guardiola could shape him into one of the best attackers around.
With Felix's form at Atletico half-dependent on his partnership with an ageing Suarez, from a personal standpoint a move to a more attacking and creatively free side would suit him. But would a move suit City?
Signing Felix would leave the number nine conundrum unanswered, but under Guardiola's guidance, he could be a lot of fun.