Diego Simeone Rules Out Atletico Madrid Return For Chelsea Striker, Diego Costa

Atletico Madrid coach, Diego Simeone, has ruled out Atletico Madrid return for Diego da Silva Costa, who has been pushing for a return to Atletico this summer after a very public fall-out with Chelsea boss Antonio Conte. Costa, who was told in January that he could leave Stamford Bridge this summer, has his heart set on a return to the Spanish capital but as of yet Atleti have not come close to matching the champions’ £50million asking price. Any move to Madrid comes with the additional complication of the transfer ban currently being served by Los Rojiblancos, meaning they would be unable to register any new signings until January.

And Simeone, speaking after his side’s 3-2 win at Brighton, was reluctant to offer much hope to Costa. “I don’t want to comment too much,” he said. “The fact is he is still with Chelsea. The most important thing to me is the work of my club in general, not only in training. I have to work with what I have”. Simeone added: “When I found there was no other possibility to get new players at the club I accepted it. Maybe I could improve the quality, but for the moment with this team I can work very well and I’m satisfied with that.”