Related News
Atleti agrees deal to re-sign Blues’ Costa
Print Edition
Atletico Madrid and Chelsea have reached an agreement for the transfer of striker Diego Costa to the Spanish club.
Atletico said yesterday that Chelsea gave the Spain international permission to travel to Madrid in the coming days to take his medical and finalize the contract with his former club.
“Atletico de Madrid and Chelsea have reached an initial agreement for the transfer of Diego Costa,” the Spanish side said in a statement. “The agreement is pending the formalization of the contract between our club and the Spanish international forward.”
The English Premier League team said it reached a deal with Atletico but the transfer was pending the medical and an “agreement of personal terms” between the player and the Spanish club.
Costa will only be allowed to play for Atletico in January, when the club’s FIFA-imposed ban on registering new players ends.
He joined Chelsea from Atletico in July 2014 for 32 million pounds (US$41.2 million at the time) on a five-year deal.
The Brazil-born Spain striker helped the club win two EPL titles in three years, scoring 59 goals in 120 appearances in all competitions.
But he was at odds with current manager Antonio Conte, who reportedly told him in a text message that he was not in the team’s plans this season. Costa publicly criticized Conte and immediately talked about his desire to return to Atletico, the team which he first joined in 2007.
The 28-year-old Brazilian-born striker played for Atletico in several different stints since then, and more permanently from 2012 until moving to Chelsea.
He can’t play for Atletico now because the club is serving FIFA’s ban from registering new players until 2018 for having broken rules regarding the transfer of underage players.
The club can sign new players but they can’t play until the end of the ban. Atletico recently signed Spain forward Victor “Vitolo” Machin but he is on a loan with Las Palmas until January.
Costa had initially said the transfer to Atletico was complicated because of the ban, which would keep him from playing and could affect his chances of making Spain’s team ahead of next year’s World Cup in Russia.
He hasn’t played a professional match since the disagreement with Conte in the offseason.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
