Diego Costa passes Chelsea Medicals

Diego Costa passes Chelsea Medicals

The Stamford Bridge club are poised to
finalise the €43 million [£35m] signing of
the Atletico Madrid striker, after agreeing
the terms of the deal
By Wayne Veysey
Diego Costa has completed a medical
at Chelsea and is now on the verge of
completing a €43 million [£35m] move
from Atletico Madrid.
Goal revealed early last month that a
deal worth £75m, including transfer fee
and salary, was finalised at a meeting in
London less than 24 hours after Costa’s
penalty helped Atletico Madrid to
eliminate the Blues from the Champions
League.
The Brazil-born striker, who is a member
of the Spain squad preparing for the
World Cup, has long been identified by
Mourinho as the player to provide a
more regular supply of goals than
Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto’o and
Demba Ba were able to contribute last
season.
Chelsea will pay around €43m for the
striker, although a significant portion of
the transfer fee includes agents’ fees.
The move will also more than triple the
wages of Costa, who is believed to earn
around £50,000 a week at the Vicente
Calderon Stadium. Chelsea will hand the
25-year-old a five-year contract worth
£150,000 a week.
As reported by Goal in April, it had long
been the plan of the west Londoners to
confirm the deal before the World Cup,
where he is expected to lead the line for
Spain if he can recover from the
hamstring injury that restricted him to
just a short run-out in Atletico’s recent
Champions League final defeat to Real
Madrid.
Representatives of the Londoners have
held a series of meetings with Costa’s
camp in recent months and the set of
talks around the two clubs’ Champions
League second-leg showdown closed the
deal.
Costa emerged as Chelsea’s top centre-
forward target following an outstanding
campaign for Atletico, who won La Liga
as well as finishing Champions League
runners-up.
The 25-year-old scored 36 times in 50
matches for his club in the recently
completed domestic season and his 27-
goal league haul was third only to
Cristiano Ronaldo (31) and Lionel Messi
(28).
Chelsea were keen to trigger the Brazil-
born forward’s release clause in January,
when he was also being closely
monitored by rivals Arsenal, but the
player did not want to leave in mid-
season.
Mourinho has made no attempt to hide
his desire to recruit a blue chip centre
forward amid doubts over the futures of
Torres, Eto’o and Ba. At least two of the
trio are expected to leave in the summer,
while Romelu Lukaku will hold talks with
Chelsea chiefs this summer following a
season-long loan at Everton.
Chelsea have been active in the transfer
market following the completion of the
domestic season.
The Londoners have agreed a deal with
Paris Saint-Germain to sell David Luiz
for an initial €49m [£40m] although the
French champions have yet to officially
confirm the Brazilian’s arrival.
Mourinho is also looking for a new left-
back and a new central midfielder
following the departures of Ashley Cole
and Frank Lampard. Chelsea’s top
midfield target is Juventus’ Paul Pogba
and they are also monitoring the
situation of Cesc Fabregas.