Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa out with back injury

Atletico Madrid could be without Diego Costa for the rest of the season.

Atletico Madrid dealt a huge blow as the club confirmed that Diego Costa is suffering from a back injury that is set to sideline their striker until February of next year if not the rest of the season.

The club issued a statement that said that the Spanish international underwent an x-ray following complaints of back pain. The x-ray revealed that his discomfort was due to a cervical disc herniation and that Costa will be assessed by neurosurgery specialists to determine the treatment going forward.

ESPN report that Costa is set to undergo surgery and that he would have been out until February of 2020 regardless if he went through with the surgery or not.

Atletico Madrid find themselves in a precarious situation with the Costa news. Joao Felix was brought in to be their new long-term forward and performed well in pre-season as well as at the start.

But like many offensive players under Diego Simeone, he began to struggle and has been out of action for a while now due to injury. To make matters worse, Atletico Madrid rank near the bottom of the league in terms of goals scored.

Simeone and the club have come under considerable criticism as many feel that with the struggles of Barcelona and Real Madrid, Atletico were in prime position to challenge for the league and have let that opportunity slip.

With Felix out, the club had been relying more on Alvaro Morata who, to his credit, has played well and contributed goals. But with little to no scoring threat from anywhere else, things are going to get even more complicated.

According to Marca, the timetable for Costa’s recovery may mean that Simeone is going to have to dip into the transfer window to find a replacement.

Regardless, finding someone with the characteristics of Diego Costa is going to be difficult. While he hasn’t scored as much this season, he was developing a good partnership with Morata when they were both on the field.

Finding someone new and integrating them quickly to the style Atletico Madrid play is going to be a challenge.