Diego Costa has completed a medical examination at Chelsea and is on the verge of completing a £32 million (€40 million) move to the English side from Atlético Madrid. The Brazil-born striker, who is currently preparing for the World Cup as part of Spain's squad, has been a long-term target of Chelsea, and manager José Mourinho firmly believes that Costa has what it takes to lead Chelsea back to domestic and European glory.
Mourinho's Chelsea finished four points adrift of champions Manchester City last season, and were knocked out by Costa's Atlético Madrid in the Champions League semi-final. Mourinho bemoaned the lack of a quality attacker at the club on numerous ocassions throughout the season, (between them Samuel Eto'o, Demba Ba and Fernando Torres scored just 19 league goals) and although young Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku is returning from yet another successful loan spell in the Premier League, (he scored 15 goals in the league for Everton) Mourinho clearly feels he needs to exercise his spending power to bring in another top class centre forward.
In what was Costa's breakthrough season after Radamel Falcao was sold to Monaco, he certainly had the desired impact, scoring 27 goals in 34 league starts for Atléti, as well as contributing 8 goals in his 9 Champions League appearances, including a penalty against Chelsea in the semi-final. He spearheaded the charge as Atléti secured their first La Liga title since the 1995/96 season, as well as finishing runners-up to city rivals Real Madrid in a Champions League final that they were just minutes from winning.
Chelsea were impressed with him before they saw him up close against them, despite his relative toils over the second half of the season. He had scored 23 of his goals in all competitions by 21 December, with the other 12 coming over the five months that followed. He struggled a little towards the end of the season with injury. Previously, he had never scored more than 10 league goals in a season.
So impressed were the London club, they acted swiftly to activate the release clause on Costa's current contract at Atléti. Both Costa and Mourinho share the same agent - Jorge Mendes, and the clubs are smoothly negotiating their other current transfer dealings at the same time.
It is possible that they will have further dealings with Atlético, as they have an interest in the club’s Brazil left-back, Filipe Luís, and their Portuguese midfielder, Tiago, who played for Chelsea in 2004-05, during Mourinho’s first spell at Stamford Bridge. The club need a left-back to replace the departing Ashley Cole and another midfielder to replace Frank Lampard. Tiago is available on a Bosman costless transfer and he and Luís would help smoothen Costa’s integration in London.
Atlético have agreed a deal to sign the 19-year-old forward Ángel Correa from San Lorenzo, but they remain in the market for a more experienced option up front and Torres, who made his name at the Vicente Calderón, is under consideration for what would be an emotional homecoming. They also today confirmed a £10 million move for left back Guilherme Siqueira, paving the way for a move out for Filipe Luís.
Atlético are also interested in another Spanish striker – Roberto Soldado, who struggled at Tottenham Hotspur last season after a £26 million move from Valencia. The Spanish champions announced the signing of the goalkeeper Miguel Moya from Getafe on Wednesday, increasing the likelihood that Thibaut Courtois will not be joining on loan from Chelsea for a fourth successive season.
Chelsea have also formally agreed to a deal with French champions PSG to sell their defender David Luiz for a fee of between £40-50 million, although the French side are yet to officially announce the defender's arrival. Chelsea are also in the market for a centre back, and are tracking the movements of Real Madrid's French defender Raphael Varane in a deal which would cost an estimated £30 million. The club are also strongly linked to the signing of Barcelona midfielder and ex-Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas, although time will tell whether that deal will be completed or not.