Diego Costa is reportedly set to depart Chelsea in the summer to play in the Chinese Super League after agreeing to a mega money ‘pre agreement’.
Spanish radio station Cadena SER have reported that Diego Costa is set to become one of the highest-paid players in football, after agreeing to leave Chelsea in the summer to play in the Chinese Super League in a €30 million-a-year ‘pre agreement’.
Diego Costa has had an eventuful Chelsea career to say the least. A prolific first season – in which he ended second in the top scorers list and led Chelsea to the Premier League title – was followed by an underwhelming 2015/16, when the entire Blues team endured a dismal campaign.
The start of the 2016/17 season was mired in uncertainty for the Spain international, with no clarity about his position in the team and his future at Stamford Bridge. However, he put that behind him to start the campaign in stellar fashion to romp to the top of the goalscoring charts and lead Chelsea to the top of the table.
Costa is currently the joint-top scorer in the Premier League with 15 goals in 20 matches, and his influence has constantly been felt by the 28-year-old scoring several match winning goals for Chelsea throughout the season.
However, after initially shedding his combative attitude on the field, he was reportedly involved in an incident off the field, as Costa allegedly had a bust-up with manager Antonio Conte last month that temporarily put his Chelsea career under a cloud.
Costa has since come back into the side after being excluded from Chelsea’s 3-0 win at Leicester City, but speculation surrounding his future continued to come up, with the likes of Barcelona and former club Atletico Madrid being linked with a summer move for Costa.
It now looks like Costa favours a move to China instead of Spain, with the report from Cadena SER stating that he has agreed a “total and absolute preliminary agreement” with a Chinese group that will see him earn a whopping €30 million a year.
The report further adds that Costa was keen to move on from Chelsea in the winter transfer window itself, with a Chinese club also tabling an offer of €85 million. But Conte was insistent that he didn’t want to lose the striker when they were still challenging for the Premier League title.
Costa feels that his Chelsea career is done and is eager to leave European football to play in China and become one of the highest paid players in the world.
Chelsea have been rumoured to be searching for a possible replacement for Costa, having been linked with the likes of Thomas Muller, Alvaro Morata, Romelu Lukaku and Moussa Dembele in the last month. And if Costa does leave, they will have to make their interest in these players concrete in order to sustain a challenge on all fronts next season.
