"I would have preferred Joao Felix to go to City or Barca"

"I said I would have preferred him to go to Manchester City or Barcelona," Renato Paiva admitted. The coach explained why those two sides were his favourites. "I liked City because of Guardiola and Barca because of the way they play. I think Joao's characteristics are better suited to that style of play," he said. 

That said, he made clear that he does not have anything against Atletico. "I respect Atletico, but I think City was better for Joao especially for Guardiola," he emphasised. 

Because Renato Paiva liked the way Guardiola's teams play more than how Simeone's do. "I know that Simeone deserves a lot of credit and he is a great coach, but I don't feel identified with his style of play," Felix's first coach pointed out. 

He explained how the day he discovered Joao Felix's talent was: "He arrived in a difficult situation because he was not playing at Porto, he was very thin and they wanted a different type of player, larger players. Joao did his job and he is not the man responsible for everything that is happening up to now. In the first week of training, I saw him work and I said to my assistant: "But what have we got here? Are you seeing the same thing as me? He's a diamond."

Coaching Joao Felix was an absolute honour. "He did amazing things which I had never seen before. Every session he did things you didn't expect, it was impossible to predict with many technical and tactical attributes. Even on the physical side he is very intelligent, the way in which he avoids contact. He is a very complete player," he said. 

Lastly, he explained how Joao Felix's life was. "He had just finished training and he didn't go out to meet girls. He preferred to be humble and keep a low profile," he concluded.