🇵🇹𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆 🅿️𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼🇺🇸

Joao Felix has been football's most frustrating gift of the last decade. He moves as if uninhibited by gravity. His first touch makes you blush. He could find an interesting angle in a square. He has also spent far too much of his career so far sat on benches or marooned out on a far wing, looking slightly lost, maybe even a little haunted. Felix joined Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr in 2025. It looked to some like an admission of defeat: luxury player, unable to assert himself in Europe, chooses easy option. There is probably a bit of truth in that. Either way, the move provided him with the one thing he had been lacking: a cheerleader. Jorge Jesus, the journeyman Portuguese coach, built a team around Felix. The latter scored 26 goals and set up 18 more as Al Nassr won the 2025-26 Saudi title. Jesus, who replaced Roberto Martinez as Portugal manager after the World Cup, is now saving Felix at international level, too. Felix had never played 90 minutes in consecutive games for Portugal before. He has now — scoring in wins against Wales and Norway. The hope, from here, is that this will be the norm rather than the exception. Felix is not the most consistent player. There will be ebbs and flows. One thing, though, is undeniable: when he is on the pitch, in his favourite areas, arresting things tend to happen. The romantics have known this for years. Finally, in Jesus, he has a coach who subscribes to his heartbreak manifesto. 📝 @jacklang bit.ly/4dJlmgL