Chelsea may spurn profit, relief in Atletico’s £50 million bid for Diego Costa

Atletico Madrid may be on the verge of offering £50 million for Diego Costa. Chelsea are thinking about doing the unthinkable: turning it down and holding out for more.

If MasterCard becomes one of Chelsea’s corporate sponsors, the advert writes itself. Transfer fee from Atletico Madrid: £32 million. Wages for next three seasons: £150,000 per week. Finally getting him out the door before the transfer window closes: Priceless.

The Daily Mail report that Atletico Madrid will bid £50 million for Diego Costa, and that Chelsea may reject it and hold out for £60 million. If true, this is incomprehensibly stupid. No matter how stubborn or venal or spiteful or penny-pinching Chelsea may be, they have no excuse to turn down an £18 million profit to excise Costa from the club.

To paraphrase the old saying, you’re not paying Costa for his services – you’re paying him to leave.

Chelsea’s priority must be allowing the club, the team, Antonio Conte and Costa himself to move on from this fiasco. Everything else – even money – starts as a distant second. They are not selling a player so much as buying peace of mind and a fresh start. If that costs the £10 million difference between Chelsea’s valuation and Atletico’s bid so be it.

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Even if that is the case, the sale is still a good piece of business, and a downright remarkable one under the circumstances. Atletico Madrid’s bid is 17% less than what Chelsea would like, but is 56% more than Chelsea paid. For a club that has experience re-buying a player, Chelsea do not seem to recognize how much they will have won the financial side of the Diego Costa saga.

And, again, that will be in spite of everything that has happened. Earlier in the transfer season £40 million sounded like a reasonable selling price. Antonio Conte had sent “the text,” the Blues had no leverage, Atletico Madrid was the only interested buyer. Since then the situation has escalated, no other buyers have emerged and the transfer window has only 10 days remaining. And the bid is £50 million.

Chelsea hardly need money to come in to complete their summer transfers. They are still sitting on a £40 million profit for 2017. The extra £10 million would be nice. But a £50 million sale would leave Chelsea sitting on enough money to buy the second-most expensive player in history and still break even for the year.

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Atletico Madrid’s bid allows Chelsea to save face, turn a profit and – most of all – transfer out Diego Costa. This is a better outcome than seemed remotely possible a few days ago. Turning it down would be the biggest mistake yet in a transfer window that has bordered on the absurd and unbelievable.