Rumours of Chelsea striker Diego Costa moving to China simply won’t go away, as it’s reported that he was offered £38m-a-year to make the move.
With Antonio Conte leading his side to the top of the Premier League table with 12 games to go, speculation over the future of one of his key stars will be an unwanted distraction.
However, it’s one that they will have to deal with as according to The Sun, Costa was offered a £38m-a-year deal to move to the Chinese Super League in January.
The Premier League leaders insisted that they had no intention to sell the Spaniard before the end of the season, and why would they when he’s scored 16 goals so far this year and continues to fire them closer to the title.
Having been dropped for the trip to Leicester City in January amid talk of a possible offer from China, the 28-year-old has returned to the team and to form as he continues to play a pivotal role for the Blues.
Nevertheless, they clearly do face the threat of losing him at the end of the season and it seems as though he’s had his head turned by the money on offer, as per The Sun, and could be interested in considering his options and possible offers in the summer.
Chelsea can certainly expect another offer in the coming months as Tianjin Quanjian billionaire owner Shu Yuhui told the media this week that “theoretically speaking, there is no limit on a transfer budget for the summer”, and so that is an ominous warning for Chelsea and other clubs around Europe.
The eye-watering levels of money is shocking, and in turn it looks as though Chelsea will have a fight on their hands to keep Costa at Stamford Bridge, as they could be facing the real possibility of having to bring in another top-class striker to replace him.