Diego Costa saga: Chelsea dealt another blow

Premier League Champion Chelsea’s attempts to solve their ace striker, Diego Costa, puzzle have hit a brick wall due to FIFA ruling which will prevent a transfer to former club, Atletico Madrid, followed by an instant move on loan.

The Spanish side, Atletico Madrid are banned from registering any new players until the end of 2017 as punishment for illegal transfer activity, and they have to first register any player before he can be loaned out, although they are not technically banned from making new. Thus, it rules out Costa move on loan.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte wants Costa out of the club and he made it clear with a personal text message he sent to the striker to inform him he was not part of plans for the future, Costa also wants to leave the Blues.

The Spain international, however, is only interested in a return to former club Atletico Madrid, where he left for Chelsea in a £32million transfer in 2014 and he could re-join Atletico and not play until January, as Barcelona did with Arda Turan of Atletico and Aleix Vidal of Sevilla when they were six months from the end of a similar ban.

However, such a long period of inactivity comes with a price. It would damage Costa’s likelihoods of sealing a place in the Spain squad for 2018 World Cup finals.

Furthermore, the two clubs are presently millions apart on their valuations. Atletico are reluctant to pay more than £20m for Costa who was Chelsea’s top-scorer last season.

Moreso, selling Costa elsewhere is difficult because he only want a move back to Madrid and his wage demands, in excess of £200,000-a-week, rule out most clubs, including AC Milan who did show initial interest.

Also, any attempt to keep him at Chelsea for six months is risky. Costa is a popular figure in the dressing room but does not want to stay and a decaying row between Conte and a senior player will sour the atmosphere.

The 28-year-old centre-forward, who has two more years on his contract at Stamford Bridge, will be expected to report for pre-season training with the rest of the first-team squad on July 10 if he has not been sold.

The Blues 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, they will have to develop a plan like the one which helped former striker, Fernando Torres who 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.

The London club 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.

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