The Diego Costa novel is missing an ending

Posted Monday, August 28, 2017 by Marca.com

Atletico Madrid have been one of the major players in the summer transfer window ... even if they they've been unable to register any players due to their unfair sanction. They've been so ever since president Enrique Cerezo, chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin and sporting director Andrea Berta heard Diego Costa's shocking declarations in June, in the aftermath of Spain's friendly with Colombia.

"I'm going be to be very sincere," Costa said. "The other day I received a message from the coach [Antonio] Conte to tell me I'm not part of his plans. Right now I'm a Chelsea player because I have a contract, but the coach does not want me there. I guess I have had such a bad season. He sent me a message with the coach's plan. It was a simple message after all I've done, but fine. I now need to find a team to play in."

The three Atleti directors knew that it was a great opportunity to bring Costa back to Los Rojiblancos and that they had to go all out for him, but they also knew that they'd be entering a novel and not just a recruitment process, a novel which could last months and the last chapter of which would probably end when there was just a minute of the market left. That means 23:59 on September 1.

And that is how it has turned out. Two months have already passed and there isn't long left now until that date. During that time there have been some chapters which have been more exciting than others, such as the one titled 'Chelsea fine Costa 330,000 euros for missing two weeks of training'.

There were other exciting lines too, like 'Costa doesn't want him, but the club consider that he should be with his teammates and the sanction could increase if he doesn't return', like 'Costa feels Chelsea are treating him like a criminal, which is why he won't return to training in London', and like 'Costa doesn't care about the sanctions or if he has to go without playing for a year'.

Then, after all of this drama the Champions League group stages draw added some extra excitement to this summer novel by putting Chelsea and Atletico Madrid in the same group.

As an Atletico fan, I have always believed that Chelsea will have to sooner or later concede and sell the player to Atletico for a fair price, given that it would be totally crazy for Costa to return to Conte's dressing room. However, it worried me when Sport Bild this week said that the Italian coach's days at Chelsea could be numbered as a result of his bad relationship with general director Marina Granovskaia ... and because of the way he handled Costa. I sincerely hope that they are mistaken because one of the few ways in which Costa is not at Atletico in January is if Chelsea fire Conte and decide to retain the striker.

Fortunately this novel is on the verge of finishing and it would be perfect for us Atletico fans to enjoy a happy ending, like 'We won the battle and Costa will return home to start scoring goals from January onwards'. That would be wonderful.