Enzo Maresca insists he was “absolutely” behind Chelsea’s signing of Joao Felix last summer, despite the forward being sent out on loan just six months into a seven-year contract.

Felix arrived for his second stint in west London last August in a £45million switch from Atletico Madrid, but struggled to break into Maresca’s preferred team during the first half of the season.

Reports have since emerged claiming that the new Chelsea coach had not been immediately sold on the deal and, on deadline day this week, Felix secured a loan move to AC Milan for the remainder of the season.

Speaking on Friday for the first time since the window shut, however, Maresca rubbished the idea that the player had been brought in over his head.

“Absolutely yes,” the Italian said, when asked whether he had wanted to sign Felix last summer. “If Joao was here it’s because I wanted to sign Joao.”

Felix had made only three league starts under Maresca, playing the majority of his football in the three cup competitions, where he scored six times in eight appearances.

The 25-year-old has already made a fine start to life in Milan, scoring on his debut in a 3-1 win over Roma on Wednesday night, but his loan move does not include an option to make the switch permanent.

As things stand, he will return to Chelsea in the summer, possibly even in time to play a part in the Club World Cup in June and July.

However, even with a Blues deal that runs until 2031, Maresca was unable to offer any guarantees over Felix’s long-term future at Stamford Bridge.

“I don’t know about the future,” he said. “It’s complicated to talk about the future.

“For me, it’s just about now and the reason why Joao left is because of his desire is to get more minutes. Here, since we started, he struggled to get minutes, and he wants to leave because he wants to play more minutes. It’s no more than that.

“Sometimes you buy players, but after six months or one year, altogether - player, club manager - you decide that it’s better option for him to leave or to stay.”