HE’LL COSTA LOT
Atletico to offer £40m for Blues frontman
ATLETICO MADRID will step up their interest in Diego Costa over the coming days — with officials at the Spanish club increasingly confident they will get their man.
The Chelsea striker moved to west London from Atletico for £32million in 2014 but has repeatedly been linked with a return.
Chelsea have contacted Atletico twice to voice their displeasure at what they see as unwanted interest in their man and have threatened to complain to FIFA. And the renewed interest is sure to anger those at Stamford Bridge who are adamant the player is not for sale.
However, a bid is expected to be forthcoming in the near future. Executives, who have remained in the Spanish capital, while Diego Simeone’s team tour Australia, are lining up an offer of around £40m.
And they are confident that 27-year- old Costa, who scored 56 goals for them over two years, will again star at the Vicente Calderon.
Whether the bid will be enough to tempt Chelsea is unclear. Despite spending £ 33m on Belgium striker Michy Batshuayi, new manager Antonio Conte is not blessed with great reserves of firepower.
However, Costa (right) has been troubled by a back problem, which Conte suggested is the reason the Brazilianborn Spain striker missed the 1-0 win over Liverpool in Los Angeles and is not expected to face Real Madrid in Ann Arbor today. ‘If I don’t see a player doing the training session I can’t put them in the game,’ said Conte. ‘In the last few days (Costa) had a pain in the back and so he didn’t train and didn’t play.’ Following the win over Liverpool, Costa had a picture taken with a number of team-mates and captioned it: ‘Thank you very much for all my friends.’ He also changed his profile picture on Instagram from a Chelseainspired shot to a football, in what some fear points to his desire to leave Conte’s side. The manager said he had no wish to lose Costa while his side were in Austria last week, but would not guarantee that he would be in a blue shirt at the start of the season.
Costa scored 20 goals in his first season as Chelsea coasted to the title but followed it up with just 12 goals in 28 appearances in last term’s horror show which saw Jose Mourinho leave the club.
Costa’s team- mate Nemanja Matic, meanwhile, stopped short of pledging his long-term future to Chelsea but has been encouraged by his first impressions of Conte.
The former Italy manager hailed Matic as a player with the potential to be one of the best midfielders in the world as he warned Juventus he was not for sale. The Italian champions have earmarked the Serbia midfielder as their No 1 target to replace Manchester United-bound Paul Pogba.
‘What he said gave me a special feeling,’ said Matic. ‘ It was important for me to know I am a big part of his plans.
‘I have been at the club for two and a half years and have always given my best every day. While I am here, I will continue to give everything to the team.’
Like Costa, Matic was outstanding as they won the title in 2015, but his form suffered and he lost his place last season.
‘It was a strange year for all of us,’ said Matic, 27. ‘Of course I was not happy that we were 10th in the table. There were many things that made it hard for me but I can’t speak about it. In the last 10 years, Chelsea have been there at the highest level.
‘Last season we didn’t play well, we were 10th in the table, but this is the Premier League and what makes it so strong. It would never happen to Real Madrid. They wouldn’t even be sixth. They are always going to be in the top three.’
Conte has worked hard to lift spirits at Chelsea since his arrival.
‘He played football at a very high level,’ said Matic. ‘It helps him to know things, to understand us and to show us what we can do better, how we can improve.’