Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE GONZO WORLD OF CHELSEA
Antonio Conte’s text dumping of Costa is close to costing the Blues a whopping £100m as the club continues its desperate, fruitless hunt for a class striker ..and their latest hope is 31-year-old Higuain
THE infamous text from Antonio Conte telling Diego Costa his career at Chelsea was over has proved to be a mighty expensive one.
The bill to try to replace the best striker they have had in the Roman Abramovich era since Didier Drogba will rise again to almost £100million.
Chelsea took a hit on Costa’s fee after his fallout with Conte became public, paid an initial £58m on Alvaro Morata to replace him and a further £18m for Olivier Giroud.
It may cost them Eden Hazard too if deploying him as a false nine and away from his preferred position on the wing pushes him towards the exit at Stamford Bridge.
Now Chelsea have had to spend again, albeit less than they might have, in the hope Gonzalo Higuain can be the clinical striker they need.
He will arrive on an initial six-month loan, for a fee believed to be £9m, with Chelsea also taking on his £150,000-a-week wages.
The loan can be extended to 18 months, with a hefty additional payment, if Higuain hits various targets for goals and appearances.
Juventus wanted Chelsea to take on Milan’s £32m obligation to buy Higuain in the summer but chief executive Marina Granovskaia did not want to commit to such a deal and still managed to secure the
31-year-old.
Blues boss
Maurizio
Sarri will be happy too. He wanted Higuain in the summer but the Blues opted against pursuing him at that time.
Higuain starred under Sarri at Napoli, scoring 38 goals in his final season, and the pair are so close they are believed to be in almost daily contact.
A repeat of anything like that form and Sarri’s persistence will have paid off.
Blues legend Drogba once remarked privately that cutting it as a Chelsea striker depended on taking one or two big chances when they come, especially against the top clubs.
Costa succeeded on that front, helping Chelsea to two titles in three years while scoring 52 goals in 86 league starts before his controversial return to Atletico Madrid. Morata has not. He started well under Conte after joining in July 2017 but the goals dried up and doubts about his suitability for the Premier