Atletico Madrid confirm efforts to wrest Diego Costa back from Chelsea

After receiving a whole Spanish treasure fleet's worth of Chinese gold for Jackson Martinez, it's only understandable that rumors regarding Atletico Madrid buying back Diego Costa sprung into life again.  After all, this story has been around since at least last summer, partially attributed to some sort of unhappiness on Costa's part, which supposedly has a lot to do with the English media's (and thus, referee's) treatment of him.  (We only have to look at ridiculous "articles" like this in the Telegraph to understand that angle.)

Rumors can be easily dismissed of course.  Words from real people with real power in this situation on the other hand...

CEREZO en @deportescope: "Jackson no se adaptó. La operación a 3 bandas ha sido maravillosa para todos. Intentaremos traer a Diego Costa".

— elpartidodelas12 (@partidodelas12) February 4, 2016

So that's Enrique Cerezo, Atletico Madrid president, talking to Radio COPE about how marvelous the Jackson Martinez deal is after the 29-year-old failed to adapt to the team.  (Though it's unclear what he means by a three-way deal.)  But what is clear is the confirmation that they intend to bring Diego Costa back.  Or at least will try.  They have plenty of money and their transfer ban is likely to not come into effect until after the summer.

Costa's under contract at Chelsea until June 2019, but if he's unhappy or if Atleti can truly tempt him back to work in La Liga again under Simeone (and in the Champions League, which we're likely to not see again for a bit), there's probably not too much we can realistically do.  This could get interesting...