Chelsea poised to make surprising transfer decision
Chelsea are fighting to retain Diego Costa
Most football pundits have ticketed Romelu Lukaku with a summer move to Chelsea. Evidently Antonio Conte didn’t get the message. The Blues’ boss is fighting desperately to keep Diego Costa at Stamford Bridge.
Reports from England claim that Conte has “pleaded with Chelsea brass” to keep Costa at the club next season. The enigmatic centre forward has been strongly linked with a lucrative move to the Chinese Super League this summer. It seems those reports are premature.
Instead, Conte wants to keep Costa at Chelsea moving forward. Presumably that means the Blues manager is content to allow him to continue lead his line moving forward. There would not be enough room for Costa and long-rumoured purchase Romelu Lukaku in the same starting XI.
Costa certainly isn’t the sort of player that would be comfortable coming off the bench. The further he gets away from the pitch the more trouble he becomes. Banishing him to the bench would simply be asking for trouble.
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On the other hand, it’s quite possible this is simply posturing on the part of Conte. He would be wise to make Chinese clubs believe that he really wants to hold on to Costa. Doing so would only drive up his transfer price. Conte will likely get the opportunity to reinvest those funds to secure a big name striker to replace Costa.
The truth is it’s difficult to discern Conte’s level of sincerity when it comes to his prolific centre forward. Logic would tell you that Chelsea would prefer to bring in a younger option that would offer less drama to the club.
Then again, making drastic changes to a club that have just won a Premier League title would be considered unconventional to say the least. The Blues certainly didn’t struggle to score goals this season. Costa’s stellar play absolutely helped bring a Premier League title to Stamford Bridge.
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The status of Diego Costa at Chelsea will be one of the most intriguing storylines of the summer. Expect the saga to take a lot more twist and turns before it reaches its ultimate conclusion.