Diego Costa

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

I obviously want him, but i'm a bit skeptical about signing him for so much. This is his first season where he has scored more than 20 goals in the league, what if he's just having a great season? Aguero, Torres (Atleti days), Suarez, Ibra and Cavani all had great goal scoring records before they made their big money move, if you look back at Costa's goal scoring record before this season, it's very hit and miss. He could have just matured and flourished under Simone, i don't know, but the reported price (50m) has me feeling a bit uneasy all of a sudden.

Too soon to worry mate, even if he doesn't show greatness in the first half of season. Remember he will need to adjust to the system and the new players. Part of his success at Atletico is his teammates understanding him and feeding him passes in the right places. I think we can evaluate him properly after one season. But ofcourse I expect to see some sort of positive impact offensively.

[darrus 422]

Costa is good and is carrying Atletico in some matches, the only doubt I have is that La Liga is less physical and the defense of most teams is not worth mentioning. Sure, he's doing fine against European opposition too, but still I'm a bit worried about how he will adapt to PL conditions.

On the other hand it looks like he has that sort of character that gets you a long way - he's the one to be fighting till the end in any situation in any match. So I don't think he'll be a Torres like flop, he's too much of a "bad-ass" guy to let it happen to him. Also he's a type of forward who is bullying the defenders, sort of Suarez-type, just instead of diving he'll basically force you to stop him with a foul or let him score.

I am not convinced that Cavani is that much better. Falcao at this point is a huge risk. We're not getting Aguero, Lewandovski or Mandzukic anyway. 50m price-tag, in case Costa mantains something close to the level he's at now, will be justified.

But in case he's not...

Don't know. He's good and I see him fitting into the team, but if it's 50m pounds, it's just too much money.

[Pizy 17,860]

At £32m he represents good value for a player who's still young and has time to improve and get even better. At £50m you expect a consistently world class, finished article player who's already at their peak and has been scoring loads for years and years like Falcao.

I'd just have a bad feeling if he costs that much. Big flop risk in my opinion. Plus it would likely mean we'll be going for cheaper targets in the other areas of need.

[iceboy 992]

I think this is a done deal.

P.S We have plan B or C? or not?

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I obviously want him, but i'm a bit skeptical about signing him for so much. This is his first season where he has scored more than 20 goals in the league, what if he's just having a great season? Aguero, Torres (Atleti days), Suarez, Ibra and Cavani all had great goal scoring records before they made their big money move, if you look back at Costa's goal scoring record before this season, it's very hit and miss. He could have just matured and flourished under Simone, i don't know, but the reported price (50m) has me feeling a bit uneasy all of a sudden.

Bale only had one great season before before becoming a world-class player. Same thing with Drogba who had his first 20 goal season with Marseille and we all know how that turned out.

[Viper22 2,418]

Bale only had one great season before before becoming a world-class player. Same thing with Drogba who had his first 20 goal season with Marseille and we all know how that turned out.

I like your optimism... Wish I could share it. But we've been burned too many times when it comes to strikers... Torres, Shevchenko, Crespo, Mutu are just some that immediately spring to mind.

[Oscar 441]

I don't watch many Atletic games, however, I was reading half the goals Costa scores are from longballs from Koke?

Is this true?

[dee25 1,044]

Bale only had one great season before before becoming a world-class player. Same thing with Drogba who had his first 20 goal season with Marseille and we all know how that turned out.

Except Drogba didn't cost us 50 million pounds though?? 50m is twice as much what we paid for Didi and look at how long it took him to find his feet here. In his first season here I think he scored about 10 goals, 2nd season he scored around the same. Are people going to be satisfied with that return for 50m? Because it's very possible that Costa will need at least a season to settle in.

[The Chels 2,502]

The £50m deal rumours assume that we won't come to any agreement with Atletico and that we will instead have to pay Costa the £32m + tax so he can activate the buyout clause. Though the good relations between the clubs and them wanting Courtois could well mean that we do agree a deal with them.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I like your optimism... Wish I could share it. But we've been burned too many times when it comes to strikers... Torres, Shevchenko, Crespo, Mutu are just some that immediately spring to mind.

Hasselbaink, Gudjohnson, Drogba, Crespo, Anelka, Hughes, Vialli, Flo?? We've had more success with strikers in the last 20 years than failures. Why is Crespo in your list when he had a record of one in two for Chelsea. He was arguably better than Drogba in his brief spell here but returned to Italy because of his family. Mutu was hardly played as a striker at Chelsea and as you know, it wasn't because of football reasons he failed at Chelsea. He was a brilliant player.

We've had one dominant striker in Drogba and we've played one up top for the best part of the Abramovich era, so we haven't needed anyone. And when we did experiment with two upfront, Anelka won the golden boot in 2008 I think.

This talk of Chelsea being a graveyard for strikers when we can only talk of 3 examples in 20 years is not very accurate on further scrutiny.

Sheva = Already passed his prime when he joined. Why pay 30 million pounds for a 30 year old who has no hunger and has won it all?

Torres = Had a very serious knee operation in 2010 and lost his spark since then. 9 goals in his last 23 games for Liverpool and a poor showing at the 2010 world cup. We should have passed on him. The signs were there that there was something seriously wrong.

Kezman = Never good enough in the first place. One of those guys who scored a shitload in a weak Dutch league but got exposed in a proper league as being an average player. He was rubbish in the Spanish league too. Besides, there was a huge influx of players at this time. It was either "swim or sink".

[Billy. 2,739]

I like your optimism... Wish I could share it. But we've been burned too many times when it comes to strikers... Torres, Shevchenko, Crespo, Mutu are just some that immediately spring to mind.

Crespo was class for us, he just got too home sick thats were it went wrong for him

[We Hate Scouse 10,260]

The £50m deal rumours assume that we won't come to any agreement with Atletico and that we will instead have to pay Costa the £32m + tax so he can activate the buyout clause. Though the good relations between the clubs and them wanting Courtois could well mean that we do agree a deal with them.

That would mean the tax is more than 50%. They must be mixing euroes with pounds somewhere along the line to get that figure.

[LondonPride1905 236]

His clause is 35 mil. pounds so calm down. Simeone also mentioned they are interested in Torres, so seeing a potential swap deal would be interesting.

[iseah100 5,612]

Get Costa at ANY price. He's the only world class striker available, and stop the bullshit about how physical the EPL is. He'll be fine, dude is tough and is a rough player plus he's a big dude. He'll adapt fine. I could see 30+ goals in all comps next season.

[jasonlol 154]

hes good looking in some weird way

[Special Juan 27,099]

Lots of sense in a swap deal for Torres. Surely even Emanalo can see that.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Lots of sense in a swap deal for Torres. Surely even Emanalo can see that.

Because it's solely down to Emenalo to make transfers for us right? And because Emenalo has been so bad with his transfers right? Come on, give him a break.

[Special Juan 27,099]

Because it's solely down to Emenalo to make transfers for us right? And because Emenalo has been so bad with his transfers right? Come on, give him a break.

Erm who rattled your cage? And if you read around I actually have written good things about Emanalo.