Alvaro Morata's transfer to Chelsea, for a reported fee of £58 million, surely means the end for Diego Costa at Stamford Bridge.
After Costa informed Chelsea of his interest in moving to China during their title-winning campaign last season, manager Antonio Conte informed the 28-year-old he was no longer in his plans via text this summer.
In truth, Costa's future at the club has not looked secure since he was left out of the match at Leicester after a training ground row back in January, but he now looks certain to leave, having been pictured on holiday in an Atletico Madrid shirt earlier this week.
Atletico can't sign anyone until January 2018 due to a transfer ban so Costa may have to move out on loan. But have Chelsea got themselves an upgrade? Who is the better player: Chelsea's title winner from last season or their new signing from Real Madrid?
Scoring
Morata has yet to score in excess of 15 league goals in a single season but, if you inspect that stat more closely, there is more than initially meets the eye.
Last season Costa grabbed 20 league goals for Chelsea, while Morata scored 15 times in La Liga. In all competitions those figures are extended to 22 for Costa and 20 for Morata. But things get interesting when you look at appearances and minutes played.
Costa only missed three league games for Chelsea last season, playing 35 times and completing the full 90 minutes on 27 occasions. Morata, by contrast, played a total of 26 games but only started 14 of these and, rather incredibly, only finished the full game five times.
In the Champions League, the Real striker played nine times in their successful run to claim the trophy, but only started once. In total he played 1,792 minutes, which means Morata averaged a goal every 89.3 minutes last season.
To put this in perspective, this was a better minutes-per-goal record than any player in the Madrid squad and the second best in the whole of La Liga, bettered only by Lionel Messi (79.1). Not bad for a substitute. And his rate is almost twice as good as Costa, who scored 22 goals in 3,490 minutes, or one every158.6.
Morata's career scoring record may look weak, but with more starts and game time, goals could come more regularly. Therefore, while Chelsea would not have won the league without Costa last year, they may not have actually taken a backwards step in this department with their new arrival.
Edge: Morata
Heading
One area Chelsea in which are definitely improving is the air. Of Costa's 20 league goals last season, only two (10 percent) were scored with his head. Conversely, 39 percent of Morata's goals in La Liga and the Champions League were headers.
If Costa seemed like a player who wasn't particularly dominant in the air throughout his career in England, that's because the stats prove he wasn't. Of his total aerial duels last season, he only won 25 percent, whereas Morata won a hefty 50 percent.
The new arrival will open up a whole new edge to Chelsea's attack and provide them with a new option.
Edge: Morata
Passing, shooting and one-on-ones
In terms of passing accuracy both players scored fairly highly, with Costa posting a 75 percent pass success rate and Morata posting a slightly higher 78 percent.
Both can keep possession and link the play, but Morata also had a higher shooting accuracy than Costa during 2016-17: Costa hit the target with 53 percent of his attempts, while Morata had 63 percent.
Like headers, another area Morata excels in compared to Costa is one-on-one against defenders. In 54 percent of the instances Morata took on a player in La Liga last season he was successful, whereas Costa only got past his man 41 percent of the time.
Edge: Morata
Discipline and winning mentality
Ironically, one area in which Costa did post better stats was discipline: Sixty-nine percent of the 133 fouls involving him last season saw him win the free kick of penalty. This certainly supports the notion that Costa is more in control of his on-field antics and gets in the head of opposition defenders. Morata actually gave away more fouls than he suffered, with 55 percent of those he was involved in awarded against him.
Edge: Costa
Goal importance
Despite scoring nine fewer than Golden Boot winner Harry Kane, Costa's goals earned the most points of any player in the Premier League last season. He was a monumental presence for Conte.
Morata, meanwhile, directly contributed 13 points with his 15 goals; only Cristiano Ronaldo, with 14. yielded a higher figure for Real. Morata has been top scorer at Under-19 and U-21 European Championships for Spain and he scored in the 2015 Champions League final for Juventus against Barcelona in 2015.
Edge: Evens
Conclusion
All in all, it appears as if Chelsea have signed a gem. Adaptation to the Premier League can take time and, at 24, Morata is still a young player to be making such a high-profile transfer. Costa will be a big loss, but his replacement looks like he has all the tools in his armoury to fill the void.