Marca are reporting that Chelsea froward Diego Costa has "failed to settle" in London, and would like to return to his former club, Atletico Madrid. The paper is citing "the wet English climate, the language, and the food" as the reasons Costa isn't happy, and that the player would be willing to take a massive drop in salary in order to return to Spain.
This report will likely cause panic with much of the fanbase, as Chelsea looked like a far more dangerous squad last season after the arrival of Costa than they have for the past several year without a striker. Should the Brazilian-born Spaniard leave, Mourinho's side would find themselves in desperate need of a striker again, just a season after finally crossing that off of the list.
Frankly, I have a hard time taking this report too seriously, though, as I do with the bulk of the transfer "news" published in Marca. First and foremost, Costa seemed to enjoy both the fans and his teammates at Chelsea, who took to him immediately. Yes, the media did give him a bit of the Luis Suarez treatment, but Jose Mourinho does a nice job of shifting the focus from those sort of stories to either himself or back on the media, giving the players a level of insulation that they won't get at most other big clubs. On top of that, Costa is supposedly struggling with the language, and he probably isn't having dreck such as The Daily Star or The Metro translated every morning.
It rains quite a bit in London, that's a fact. Very few people actually prefer that sort of weather to sunshine and warm temperatures, so I'm ready to accept that Diego might actually have preferred spending time outdoors in Madrid. The food issue, however, is nothing short of ridiculous. London is one of the largest and most diverse cities on the planet, and someone with the resources of Diego Costa won't have any trouble eating the way he wants, especially with a club like Chelsea likely helping him find solutions. Narratives sell, however.
Thankfully, Marca notes that there's just no way Jose Mourinho and Chelsea part with Costa, which only makes sense given that he's such an important part of the squad, and that they just spent a large amount of money to bring him over from Madrid.