<
>

Chelsea could commit Costa to new long-term deal as transfer saga rolls on

LONDON -- We are only five days into Chelsea's summer, and yet there have already been enough twists in the roller coaster that is Diego Costa's future at Stamford Bridge to sustain an entire transfer window.

The dust had barely settled on Saturday's FA Cup final loss to Arsenal when, in a corridor full of journalists deep in the bowels of Wembley Stadium, Costa took the opportunity to reignite the speculation.

"There is only one team to go to if I have to leave Chelsea, there is only one," said the striker, referring to Atletico Madrid. "I have no intention to leave. I'm good here, I have two years left [on my contract]. But if the club wants to sell me, I have made clear that there is only one club I would go."

Costa's words raised eyebrows at Stamford Bridge. Sources had told ESPN FC repeatedly in recent months -- and as recently as last week -- that Chelsea expected Costa to join Tianjin Quanjian, the Chinese Super League club whose offer to make him the world's highest-paid footballer provided the ominous backdrop to a furious and well-documented training-ground row with boss Antonio Conte in January.

Conte quickly reintegrated Costa after dropping him from the matchday squad for Chelsea's 3-0 win over Leicester City on Jan. 14, but the reconciliation between the two men was widely interpreted as no more than a temporary arrangement for the good of the club's Premier League title charge, with Tianjin prepared to renew their interest in June.

A couple of events have shifted the landscape over the past fortnight. Firstly, football authorities in China imposed a new "100 percent tax" on clubs signing foreign players that means if Tianjin were to splash out £76 million to prise Costa from Chelsea, they could have to pay an equivalent amount into a development fund, taking the total fee beyond the £150m mark.

Such an eye-watering sum might be beyond even the most expansive and financially ambitious league in the world, and it seems more than coincidental that Costa's comments distancing himself from a move to China came just days after the tax potentially affecting Tianjin's ability to sign him was announced.

Any interest Costa had in a move to the Chinese Super League was solely financial, sources have told ESPN FC. He is not happy in London and did not expect to be any more settled in Tianjin, but the money offered would have enabled him to provide for his family for generations, as well as step up his financial support for projects in his hometown of Lagarto in Brazil.

With that option off the table, Costa would only consider leaving Chelsea to return to his beloved Atletico. He admitted earlier this season that he did everything in his power to force through a move back to the Spanish capital last summer, only for the Blues to hold firm in their stance that he was not for sale.

Thursday's announcement that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld Atletico's ban on signing players until Jan. 2018 appears to put paid to the possibility of Costa returning anytime soon. In reality they could still sign and essentially park him for six months before registering him to play on Jan. 1, as Barcelona did with Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal in summer 2015.

First, however, Atletico would have to match Chelsea's valuation of Costa, which is far closer to the £76m that Tianjin were prepared to pay than the £20m that the Spanish club are reportedly willing to offer. The two clubs could scarcely be further apart, and relations are already strained due to the public nature of their pursuit of the striker over the past two years.

The signs now tentatively point to Chelsea keeping Costa and, from a footballing perspective, this is an outcome that suits Conte fine. Despite his volatile nature, the Spain international remains immensely popular at Chelsea and, when fully engaged, is undeniably one of the world's most effective scorers. This season has been his healthiest and most prolific since arriving at Stamford Bridge in 2014 and, at 28, he is in the middle of his prime years.

Yet it also creates a problem. Costa has just two years left to run on his contract, meaning now is the last realistic opportunity to sell him for his true market value. There also happen to be several potentially elite strikers -- Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata at the top of the list -- available, which is not a scenario that arises every summer.

The alternative is to commit Costa to a new long-term deal. Now that Tianjin's interest has receded and Atletico appear to be out of the discussion, expect Chelsea to offer the 28-year-old fresh terms in the coming weeks, together with a pay rise that will put him among the club's highest earners.

But if the Costa roller coaster has shown us anything since January, it's that there are likely to be a few more twists and turns before his future is finally settled.