Somehow Chelsea look set to get real money out of Atletico for Diego Costa

Chelsea may not be having too much success (yet) on the buying front, especially not since finalizing the Morata deal well over a month ago, but on the selling front, we seem to be working our magic once again.

You might disagree with some of the sales this summer, but for a couple exceptions, Chelsea have done amazingly well in getting proper transfer fees for most outgoing players. The long-overdue and long-awaited sale of Diego Costa is set to be the latest example of that, as the latest report from Spain claims (or at least did — more on that below) that the deal agreed between Chelsea and Atletico is to tune of €43m with €11m in various bonuses and add-ons. These fees largely match the fees reported earlier this week in both the Spanish and English media. Combined, those two fees roughly equal £50m, which is the asking price Chelsea set earlier this summer after Costa’s situation at the club was made clear and untenable.

Over the last few hours, AS have rowed back a bit on their earlier strong reporting (by editing the already published story without notice) that the deal was finalized following the meeting between the two clubs’ representatives, but the hold-up appears to be largely due to Costa’s (unpaid?) fines to Chelsea. Costa had been AWOL from the club starting in the middle of July, racking up £150k in fines each week since. Since Atletico cannot register Costa until January, there is technically no rush to get this deal done before the end of the transfer window, though undoubtedly all parties involved would like to finalize things and move on from this fiasco.

Either way, Chelsea look set to get real money out of Costa after all, and that’s not the worst outcome.