João Félix is the one pushing for a Barcelona reunion. Barcelona is not pushing back.
That is the clarification Spanish reporter Matteo Moretto delivered on Radio MARCA, after days of speculation in the Spanish press about a free-transfer return once the 26-year-old Portugal forward’s Al-Nassr contract expires in the summer of 2027.
“João Félix would love to return to Barça, but there’s no room for him there,” Moretto said, in comments relayed by Get Football News Spain.
Moretto added that Félix fits the stylistic brief at the Catalan club, the technique, the physical profile, the La Liga familiarity, but that “for now, there’s nothing more than this.”
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Mendes has already made the call
The rumour did not come out of nowhere. Félix’s agent Jorge Mendes has already informed Barcelona of his client’s wish to come back, and the forward has been openly nostalgic in public about his loan season at the Spotify Camp Nou in 2023-24.
“Simply playing for Barcelona made me very happy,” Félix said in a recent interview relayed by Yahoo Sports, calling the move “a childhood dream for me, my father and my brother.”
He also ruled out any switch to Real Madrid, telling Football España that joining Barcelona’s great rival would make him the biggest traitor in the sport’s history.
Flick’s attack is already stacked
Barcelona’s reluctance has little to do with Félix and a lot to do with the squad Hansi Flick has in front of him.
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The German coach spent the summer rebuilding his forward line. Anthony Gordon arrived from Newcastle and Karim Adeyemi from Borussia Dortmund, and Gabriel Jesus joined from Arsenal for a reported €10m fee. That trio lines up alongside Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Dani Olmo and Fermín López, a group that leaves little obvious room for a free-transfer addition in the same positions.
Félix’s loan spell in 2023-24, according to Barca Universal via Yahoo Sports, is also not remembered inside the club as the kind of success that would force a second look.
Pre-contract talks possible from January 2027
The structural opening is real even if the willingness is not. From January 2027, in the absence of a renewal in Riyadh, Félix would be free to negotiate a pre-contract directly with European clubs and move at the end of that season on a free.
Until then, he remains an Al-Nassr player, lining up for the Saudi Pro League side alongside Cristiano Ronaldo while the Catalan door stays closed.
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