He’s back.
Diego Costa was today unveiled by Atlético Madrid as he completed his return to his old club whose transfer ban has ended an the Brazilian born striker will be available for selection from tomorrow.
🔴⚪🔴 WELCOME HOME
😃🏧😃We’ve missed that smile, @DiegoCosta. #AúpaAtleti #BienvenidoDiegoCosta pic.twitter.com/2Zt5NwnBKN— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) December 31, 2017
He will wear the number 18 shirt, with Lucas Hernandez having taken his favourite number 19 shirt and Atléti legend Fernando Torres wearing the number 9.
The move has been on the cards for a while, ever since Chelsea boss Antonio Conte told the striker he was not in his plans via text in the summer. The fallout came as a bit of a shock to many considering how effective Costa had been in Conte’s 3-4-3 system last season when Chelsea won the title.
Since that moment when bridges were burned, Costa has been yearning for a return to the Rojiblancos.
He even flew back to Brazil, refusing to train with Chelsea, demanding that they give in to his demands to be sold back to Atlético.
But now he is back, and today he expressed his gratitude to Atlético for making the move happen.
🔴⚪🔴 WELCOME HOME@DiegoCosta:”I want to thank the club for all the hard work they did to be able to bring me back. From the heart, thank you.”#AúpaAtleti pic.twitter.com/LwfXXwdcEs
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) December 31, 2017
At his presentation today, speaking about the time he spent in limbo between the two clubs, Costa said:
“I had to wait a long time, I was training and working, focussing on the day I would play again. I need to play now! I’m tired of so much training.”
Costa joins an Atlético Madrid side who have been knocked out of the Champions League already, but sit second in LaLiga, having only lost one league game, to Espanyol. They’re only 9 points behind Barcelona and Costa will hope he can help Atlético put the pressure on or even better, fire them to another title as he did in the 13/14 season before his move to Chelsea.
In Costa, Antoine Griezmann will get his perfect strike partner, in theory at least. The Frenchman has struggled to form a partnership with Atléti’s other forwards this season, but Costa and Griezmann should complement each other well and will be hoping to light up the Wanda Metropolitano.
