Atletico ban rules out Costa move
CHELSEA’S attempts to solve their Diego Costa conundrum have been hit by a Fifa rulingng which will prevent a transfer to Atletico Madrid followed ollowed by an instant move on loan.
Atletico are banned from registering ng any new players until the end of the year as punishmentnishment for illegal transfer activity.
They are not technically banned from making new signings but, according to Fifa, they y have to first register any player before he can be loanedned out.
This effectively rules out Chelsea’sa’s preferred solution to the mess they are in with Costa.sta.
The Spain international wants to leavee London and manager Antonio Conte wants him out,, making this clear with a personal text message to the striker to inform him he was not part of plans for the future.
Costa, however, is only interested in n a return to Atletico Madrid, the club he left for Chelsea in a £32million transfer in 2014.
He could re-join Atletico and notot play until January, as Barcelona did with Arda Turanan of Atletico and Aleix Vidal of Sevilla when they were re six months from the end of a similar ban.
Such a long period of inactivity would, uld, however, damage Costa’s chances of clinching a place in the Spain squad for next year’s World Cup finals.
Besides which, the two clubs are presently millions apart on their valuations.
Atletico are reluctant to pay more than an £20m for a striker who was Chelsea’s top-scorerorer last season.
The idea of selling Costa elsewhereere is remote because of his steadfast determinationnation to consider only a move back to Madrid. .
His wage demands, in excess of £200 000-a-week, rule out most clubs, including AC Milan who did show initial interest.
Equally, the prospect of keeping him at Chelsea for six months is risky.
Costa, who has two more years on his contract at Stamford Bridge, is a popular figure in the dressing room but does not want to stay and a festering row between Conte and a senior player will sour the atmosphere. If he has not been sold, the 28-year-old centreforward will be expected to report for pre-season training with the rest of the first-team squad on July 10. Chelsea will start a tour to Asia a week later with the first open-doors friendly planned, against Arsenal, in Beijing, on July 22. With the clock ticking, the Premier League champions have to hatch a plan like the one which helped Fernando Torres back to Atletico. Torres moved to AC Milan on a one-year loan in August 2013, only to make the move permanent six months later and immediately join Atletico. Chelsea might have to swallow financial losses as they subsidise Costa’s wages and his value diminishes. The most important thing is to find a solution to the problem while pursuing other recruitment targets, such as Tiemoue Bakayoko, Alex Sandro, Romelu Lukaku, Andrea Belotti, Virgil van Dijk and Leonardo Bonucci. — Daily Mail