Paul Clement’s trip to the Stamford Bridge was not productive as a solitary goal from Fernando Llorente, an equaliser at that, was not enough to stop the Blues from taking all points from their Premier League fixture this weekend.
Cesc Fabregas opened the scoring while Pedro put Chelsea up front again in the second half after the equaliser but after 4 games, it was star striker Diego Costa who put the game beyond the swans.
The 28-year old Spanish international scored his 16th goal of the season at the weekend and set a new record in the Premier League.
According to Opta, that’s now Costa’s 42nd game on the score-sheet at this level, out of 72 appearances in total, or 54% of his games in the top flight. This is the best return from a player to play 20+ games in the competition.
It is a feat that not many have achieved and eclipses some of the biggest names that have graced the turf in England over the years.
He was the star player for the club when they lifted the title not so long ago under Jose Mourinho and if he may have already helped Conte to one, that in his debut in the competition.
However, all is not blue for the Spaniard at the Bridge as papers around the country have linked him with an exit in the summer.
Chinese Premier League, the new financial superpower in the football world cast its eye on the 28-year old in the January transfer window but Chelsea reportedly rejected a bid of £90m (Daily Star) from Tianjin Quanjian, a club from the Far East.
Antonio Conte has constantly maintained that Costa is happy at the club at the moment but it is now understood that Chelsea wants to scare potential suitors for the striker away, even at the end of the season.
According to French journalist Johnny Severin for SFR, Chelsea have told the Chinese club that he will cost £127m (€150m) in the summer and that they are not considering selling him for even a penny less.
?#Tianjin has been told by @ChelseaFC to come back in summer with a 150M€ offer to sign @diegocosta ! The chinese club intend to do so.
— Johnny Séverin (@jseverin11) February 25, 2017
What’s more? Tianjin Quanjian are prepared to smash the world record to land their man in the next transfer window.
?INFO @SFR_Sport| @ChelseaFC declined 107 millions € offer from #Tianjin. @diegocosta was attracted by huge offer: 100M€ for 3 seasons
— Johnny Séverin (@jseverin11) February 25, 2017
Costa joined Chelsea back in 2014 for £32m and having spent three years at the club, he will fetch a profit of almost £100m if he leaves.
It is rumoured that Costa will be offered up to £85m in wages over three years of his contract and this is reportedly an offer that is tempting the star.
Conte will want to keep hold of the star player for a longer time but with that amount of money on offer, it might tempt the player himself to quit.
It will be interesting to see how this story pans out in the summer. Do you think Costa should leave to China?