How Diego Costa bust-up with Chelsea boss Antonio Conte could end up helping Manchester United sign Antoine Griezmann
Spanish striker could leave Stamford Bridge whilst Griezmann's exit rumours continue to mount
ANTONIO CONTE and Diego Costa’s training ground bust-up may not be the Chinese Super League’s gain … but Manchester United’s instead.
Costa, whose head has already been turned by Tianjin Quanjian, is now reportedly wanted by his former club Atletico Madrid – and Football Whispers has investigated how such a move could help Jose Mourinho land his top target.
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Key to the Blues’ turnaround from the also-rans of last season to the pace-setters of this, has been the remarkable form of their fiery hitman Costa.
The 28-year-old has made a strong case to be crowned player of the season with his 14 goals and five assists from 19 games. The powerful forward has also been incredibly efficient, on average needing just 4.64 shots for every goal scored, a better strike rate than such peers as Zlatan Ibrahimovic (6.28), Sergio Aguero (5.93) and Alexis Sanchez (5.25).
So Chelsea fans can be forgiven for feeling worried by the news that their talismanic striker has fallen foul of their Italian tactician Conte, and is apparently intent on engineering a move away from the club.
Rumours suggest that Costa has been offered as much as £600,000 per week — a figure which would comfortably make him the highest-paid player in the world — to make the increasingly popular move to China.
However, links to a potential return to Atletico — whom he left to join Chelsea for £32million in the summer of 2014 — continue to rumble in the background, and the influence of one man could prove vital.
Jorge Mendes is Costa’s agent, and the powerful Portuguese was reportedly in China this week talking money with potential suitors for his client.
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But Mendes also represents, and is good friends with, Andrea Berta, Atletico Madrid’s sporting director.
Atleti are currently banned from registering any new players until January 2018 due to a FIFA sanction levied at them for irregularities in their recruitment of young players.
But, like their cross-city rivals Real Madrid, Los Colchoneros intend to raise an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). And, like Real, they will be hopeful of having their suspension reduced, freeing them up to pursue transfer targets in the summer.
Diego Simeone, Atletico’s manager, is known to still hold Costa in the highest regard and would love to take him back to the Vicente Calderon.
And if that were to happen, Mendes could also be serving the interests of one of his most high-profile clients – a man named Jose.
The United boss is widely believed to have identified Atleti forward Antoine Griezmann as his top summer target, and Costa’s return to his former club could see that move become more likely.
Griezmann, who has a £88million release clause in his contract with the 2013-14 La Liga winners, doesn’t have an agent, but is thought to be open to the idea of joining his close friend and international colleague Paul Pogba at Old Trafford.
Mourinho reportedly sees Griezmann as the ideal long-term replacement for Wayne Rooney, and the Frenchman has said all the right things in the press.
He has publicly stated his admiration of ex-United star David Beckham, claiming that the former England skipper is the reason he wears the No.7 shirt for his club. And with Memphis Depay thought to be on his way out of Manchester in the near future, that number could be waiting for Griezmann at Old Trafford.
Mendes, often referred to as a “superagent”, is an extremely influential figure within European football, and, with his fingers in so many lucrative pies, he could set the wheels in motion for two of the biggest transfers of the summer.