Official: Atletico Madrid, Chelsea agree terms for Diego Costa transfer

A long-standing transfer saga that eclipsed the duration of the summer transfer window itself has reached its conclusion at last, with Diego Costa set to return to Atletico Madrid.

Subject to personal terms and a medical, Costa will don the red and white stripes of Atletico once again, come January. At the very beginning of the recently-concluded transfer period, Costa chose to reveal to the media that he’d been informed that he was no longer part of Antonio Conte’s plans, by the man himself via text message. Despite Costa’s willingness to disclose the aforementioned information to the media compromising Chelsea’s position in the market early on, the club have reportedly managed to successfully negotiate a financially favourable deal.

Chelsea had apparently been holding out for a sum in the region of £50 million all summer, and now stand to make a healthy profit after paying £32 million for Costa back in the summer of 2014. It’s been a long, long summer of negotiations, tabloid exclusives, potential legal involvement and a lot of social media shenanigans from the player. All said and done, Chelsea have handled the situation well and ensured that they receive the fee they were looking for.

Fare thee well, Diego, and thanks for the memories!