Diego Costa will officially leave Stamford Bridge and return to an old friend, leaving behind a legacy largely marked by success if not also peppered with toil and frustration.
The Chelsea FC striker, out of favor with manager Antonio Conte since earlier this year, has reportedly been sold to Atletico Madrid for a sum of over $77 million.
It’s a relative financial win for the club, which has stored one of its more renowned offensive toys in the toy box as Conte moves on in the Álvaro Morata era.
The news comes by way of Chelsea’s official website, which was rather terse considering Costa’s contributions over the last few seasons: The club won two titles with Costa around, bounced back from an embarrassing 2015-2016 season to win the Premier League the next year and welcomed 59 goals through 120 overall fixtures for the club.
The website reads: “Chelsea Football Club has today agreed terms with Atletico Madrid for the transfer of Diego Costa. The transfer will be subject to the agreement of personal terms and a medical.”
ESPN FC, citing El Mundo, explains Atletico Madrid paid a handsome sum for Costa, who is able to officially sign with his old club during January’s transfer window.
Its report spells out the club will pay €55 million with an additional €10m coming in the form of variables. That puts the grand total at €65 million, or about $77.6 million for a contract that runs through 2021. ESPN FC explains Chelsea confirmed to its publication the amount was around £58 million, which would put the sale at about $78.6 million.
Regardless, the club, who now plays with Morata out front in its attack, is getting a lot of cash for a player who has spent the better part of the last few months off the pitch—and one who still has to take the next few months off.
It also brings to a close a tumultuous relationship with player and manager. Conte explained, via The Telegraph, that the decision to move the popular player came way back in January when Costa requested a move to China’s Tianjin Quanjian.
Conte explained in July: “I don’t like to talk about players who are not here but the only thing I can tell you [is that] in January, the Costa situation was very clear, for the club for him and his agent. For me the situation is closed.”
Consider for a moment that Chelsea has a striker, gifted as he is, who hasn’t suited up all that much over the past months. It was also highly publicized that he was going to be sold or waste away in football limbo.
That Chelsea squeezed that much out of the deal tells you how much his old club believes in Costa and how confident it is he will be every bit the star he has proved to be through the London years.
Chelsea officials should clink some glasses for a job well done in securing at least as much as it paid to bring over its new goal scorer in Morata.
For Stamford faithful, it’s the end of an intriguing time.
Costa came to the ground in 2014, a couple seasons removed from the Didier Drogba era. While Costa assuredly never filled the Ivorian’s boots in respects to fans’ hearts, the Brazilian certainly became a beloved part of the franchise and remains an important part of its Premier League legacy.
