Chelsea FC officially announced on Tuesday what we all knew was coming, the transfer of Atlético top scorer Diego Costa to the London outfit.
“Chelsea Football Club can confirm an agreement has been reached with Atletico Madrid for the transfer of Diego Costa, with Chelsea meeting the buy-out clause for the Spanish international”, the statement reads.
The transfer was closed on the 1st day of July, one day after Atlético’s 2013-2014 accounts closed, and officially announced again today. It is assumed the deal was actually agreed on weeks ago, before the striker left for an unsuccessful World Cup run with Spain.
This season Costa was sensational. After the departure of Falcao, he became the focal point of Diego Simeone’s attack, scoring an impressive 27 goals in 35 La Liga games as his team won its first championship since 1996.
In 135 total appearances for Atlético, the Beast netted 64 times.
“I would like to thank everybody at Atletico who made me into the player I am, it was an incredible time for me, but now I am starting a new adventure and I hope to win many trophies with Chelsea,” Costa told Chelsea’s official website.
Of course, here at AtléticoFans we’d like to wish Diego the best of luck on this new adventure in England.
Moving on, who do you hope Atlético sign as Costa’s replacement?