Jose Mourinho may have finally got his man as Atletico Madrid are ready to accept a £32 million bid from Chelsea that will see Diego Costa line up at Stamford Bridge from next season.
There were fears that Atletico were looking to hold out for more money, however they are said to be ready to accept the fee after Chelsea met Costa’s release clause.
Atletico are now turning their attentions to securing the signiture of Manchester City’s Alvaro Negredo as a replacement for Diego Costa.
Costa, who is Jose Mourinho’s top summer transfer target, looks set for West London after Mourinho decided to match the forwards buy-out clause of £32 million, although Costa looked significantly poor and out of place at the World Cup, Mourinho has decided to go ahead and sign the striker due to his outstanding displays that helped Atletico Madrid on their way to winning La Liga and reaching the final of the Champions League last season.
There are still fears in the Chelsea camp that Atletico Madrid are stalling the move as they anticipate a bigger bid from another club.
Atletico look set to depart with Costa as they have ramped up their interest in Manchester City forward Alvaro Negredo, despite Negredo only scoring nine league goals last season, he managed 23 in all competitions proving that he is still as much of a goal threat as he was when playing for Sevilla in Spain.
Although Negredo only arrived at The Etihad last summer Atletico believe they can force City’s hand by offering Negredo regular first team football, which would be hard to come by at Manchester City.
Chelsea are also interested in Atletico left back Filipe Luis, Mourinho see’s Luis as an ideal replacement for Ashley Cole after the former Arsenal man left Stamford Bridge today as his contract has ran out. Luis will cost Chelsea in the region of £20 million.
Written by Ben Waterhouse – @BenWaterhouse_
