Joao Felix, 23, is aware and confident of his potential, wants that to be respected and wants the team to adapt to his strengths. Atletico Madrid manager Simeone only believes in earning what you are worth - work hard and the context will change for you. That is the way to grow.
Atletico believed paying Benfica 127 million euros (£113m) three-and-a-half years ago for the 19-year-old would be sound business.
The Portuguese forward was the biggest investment in the Spanish club's history - a sound investment after showing off his talent and someone who would help Atletico go far.
But things did not work out as planned. What happened?
When it all started to break up
Simeone always thought that the price tag would work against the player - expectations would be too high for someone who had only played six months of top-flight football.
Joao Felix's agent Jorge Mendes and Miguel Angel Gil Marin, the chief executive of Atletico, were warned that Argentine manager Simeone was not the ideal man to look after the promising footballer.
Simeone has a clear conscience - he used Joao Felix when the player was giving him what the manager wanted. Joao Felix thinks Simeone sent him to the bench every time his form dipped a little bit.
During the 134 games that Joao Felix was available for the team, during which time he scored 33 times, his biggest contributions were the first three months of the season Atletico became champions, in 2020-21. But since then things have not gone smoothly and the definitive period that broke the relationship was last autumn.
In mid-September, Atletico lost the Madrid derby at home. The league title was becoming an impossibility even at that early stage in the season. Simeone did not enjoy the attitude of his player with and without the ball.
Joao Felix stopped being a regular in the line-up having started in seven of the first eight games of the season. Soon after the game, Felix asked both his agent and Gil Marin to leave in January.
In an interview with the YouTuber Adri Contreras around that time, asked who he thought the best manager was, Joao Felix answered: "Pass."
Having not started against Sevilla or Club Bruges, and with Joao Felix clearly and publicly showing his discontent with the situation, Simeone took advantage of the two goals scored by forward Angel Correa against Girona to say: "When Correa is upset, he shows it on the pitch."
In the return game against Bruges, having warmed up for half an hour and being asked twice to be prepared to come on but eventually not taking part in the game, Joao Felix threw his bib to the floor. Soon after Simeone said: "While I am here, decisions are based on performances. Joao played every time he was in a good condition."
Joao Felix was on the bench for the eighth consecutive match in the crucial Champions League encounter against Bayer Leverkusen in which Atletico were knocked out.
By then the relationship between player and coach had reached a nadir.
