Chelsea agree to meet £32m release clause

With just five days to go before the winter transfer window shuts, the Football Transfer Tavern is starting to hot up.

Today’s speculation indicates that Chelsea are set to submit a massive offer for Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa after Jose Mourinho was given the green light to press ahead with landing his chief transfer target, according to reports from The Express.

The 25-year-old hit his 20th league goal of the season yesterday during his side’s 4-2 victory over Rayo Vallecano to keep them level with Barcelona at the top of La Liga.

This superb goal scoring form has seen the Brazilian-born striker attracting strong interest from the Premier League with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all thought to be tracking the former Valladolid forward.

Costa, who is likely to star at the upcoming World Cup for Spain after switching allegiance, has a £32 million release clause in his current contract, but that isn’t thought to be a problem for the Blues, who have already added Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah this month.

Spanish reports quote his agent Francois Gallardo as stating that the Blues are now prepared to pay the asking price to land Costa.

“Atletico knows it is impossible to hold [onto Costa],” he said.

Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois could even be used as part of the deal with Atletico eager to complete a permanent transfer for the impressive young shot stopper after he spent three consecutive loan spells at the Vicente Calderón.

Mourinho has previously stated that he will wait until the summer to secure a top quality striker, but with speculation mounting about a strong attempt to bring Costa to Stamford Bridge, perhaps we can expect one more big arrival in SW6 before Friday’s deadline?

Will the Blues really be able to persuade Costa to swap Spain for England before Friday? Let us know your thoughts below