Is Costa a realistic target? I mean atletico sold torres and aguero because they weren't gonna win anything, forlan because he wasn't good enough and falcao because of mendez. They are fighting for winning the league and they are in quarters of champions... so why they would sell to us?

 

Because theyre in a poor financial situation

 

Even if they dont want to sell, Costa has a release clause

Edited March 31, 201412 yr by Lane

I was at a stag weekend in Manchester at the weekend and watched us play and it cant go on anymore like this, we need to go all out on this guy even if people including myself aint 100% on him.

We are so weak up top it's untrue.

Has the man himself said anything about the possibility of him leaving in the summer?

 

Just noticed Sky Bet have suspended betting on Costa to Chelsea this summer too.

Edited March 31, 201412 yr by Jonty

Has the man himself said anything about the possibility of him leaving in the summer?

 

Just noticed Sky Bet have suspended betting on Costa to Chelsea this summer too.

It may happen, but two away games in a row that we fire blanks and have all bar ended our title hopes means people look "hey Chelsea need a striker and Jose said they would sign one" and decide Costa is the one most likely.

Because theyre in a poor financial situation

 

Even if they dont want to sell, Costa has a release clause

 

Release clause only applies to Spanish teams though.

Whose to say we wont get blown away again ? Costa is having a superb season that just seems to be getting better and he certainly is one of the hot striking options in world football right now. This may work against us, if indeed we have an interest in the player. This time last year all the talk was all about Cavani and Falcao and there were lots of excited fans expecting that one of them would sign. When it came down to it we were blown away by clubs much richer than us and the club had no choice but to walk away - the same thing could certainly happen again.

 

I just hope the club have learnt from previous lessons and have a shortlist of a few names. We simply cannot be allowed to go into another season with Torres as the main striker, or not at least if the hierarchy want the squad to mount a serious challenge for anything.

Etoo is clearly our main striker.

Etoo is clearly our main striker.

Yeah but he's no spring chicken and injuries will hamper him more and more next season.

If we go with just Eto'o and Lukaku next season we will suffer IMO we need a Costa type striker badly.

Whose to say we wont get blown away again ? Costa is having a superb season that just seems to be getting better and he certainly is one of the hot striking options in world football right now. This may work against us, if indeed we have an interest in the player. This time last year all the talk was all about Cavani and Falcao and there were lots of excited fans expecting that one of them would sign. When it came down to it we were blown away by clubs much richer than us and the club had no choice but to walk away - the same thing could certainly happen again.

 

I just hope the club have learnt from previous lessons and have a shortlist of a few names. We simply cannot be allowed to go into another season with Torres as the main striker, or not at least if the hierarchy want the squad to mount a serious challenge for anything.

 

I don't think we were outbid or whatever for Cavani or Falcao, I just don't think we put ourselves in the running for either of them.

 

The club clearly thought that they could sign Rooney based on the information they were getting from Rooney's camp.

 

Rooney then either bottled out of forcing through a move or was using us a leverage for a better contract all along... Either way we put all our eggs into a Shrek shaped basket and ended up with egg on our face. 

 

Rooney was perfect for us, including that he was a homegrown player but by the time we gave it up there was either no time to pursue anyone else or they had already moved clubs. 

 

I still maintain that someone like Mario Gomez, who moved for €20m would have been an improvement on our strike force but for some reason we keep dicking about rather than just getting someone in. 

Release clause only applies to Spanish teams though.

 

Costa himself can activate the clause, so el Atleti still have no say in the matter

Etoo is clearly our main striker.

 

Eto'o is our best striker. And he is a striker who hasn't scored a goal away from home all season and now actually only plays in home games.

 

Torres is still the clubs main figurehead striker. Its such a depressing thought, almost as bad as watching him 'play'.

I don't think we were outbid or whatever for Cavani or Falcao, I just don't think we put ourselves in the running for either of them.

 

The club clearly thought that they could sign Rooney based on the information they were getting from Rooney's camp.

 

Rooney then either bottled out of forcing through a move or was using us a leverage for a better contract all along... Either way we put all our eggs into a Shrek shaped basket and ended up with egg on our face. 

 

Rooney was perfect for us, including that he was a homegrown player but by the time we gave it up there was either no time to pursue anyone else or they had already moved clubs. 

 

I still maintain that someone like Mario Gomez, who moved for €20m would have been an improvement on our strike force but for some reason we keep dicking about rather than just getting someone in. 

 

Yeah maybe youre right. I guess we will never know. There was a lot of talk that we were certainly showing an interest in Cavani around the time the window opened. The Rooney stuff didnt materialise until later on, and then went on for far too long. It all moot now anyway.

 

Totally agree about Gomez or the like. Anyone with some high level experience and in even a just minor level of good form would've been a decent option.

SkyBet have suspended the market on Costa to Chelsea, all over twitter earlier today...

SkyBet have suspended the market on Costa to Chelsea, all over twitter earlier today...

 

Rooney was odds on to join us in the summer.... means nothing. 

 

I still maintain that someone like Mario Gomez, who moved for €20m would have been an improvement on our strike force but for some reason we keep dicking about rather than just getting someone in. 

 

 

For one season? You think someone like Gomez is good enough to be the main striker for a top 4/5 club in Europe?

 

Or are you actually saying you'd have liked to pay the €20m for him for the sake of a season and then relegate him to a €20m backup a year later when we sign a striker that actually is good enough?

 

I'm glad we kept our powder dry last summer rather than getting someone in just for the sake of it.

 

Opportunity cost.

For one season? You think someone like Gomez is good enough to be the main striker for a top 4/5 club in Europe?

 

Or are you actually saying you'd have liked to pay the €20m for him for the sake of a season and then relegate him to a €20m backup a year later when we sign a striker that actually is good enough?

 

I'm glad we kept our powder dry last summer rather than getting someone in just for the sake of it.

 

Opportunity cost.

Totally agree with this point, can't see the point for signing a player worth 20 million just not good enough to beat City's, Liverpool's strikers for example.

Rather spend 20 million extra this summer to close the deal on either Cavani or Costa.

On a somewhat related side note, whoever the striking coach/talent scout is at Atletico Madrid must be worth a few bob. When you look at the attacking talent that club has produced over the last decade it's frightening. They do phenomenal business in almost every transfer window as a result.

They can do third party ownerships and buy kids from brazil. We aren't allowed to do either. Same as the portuguese clubs

Edited March 31, 201412 yr by Stim

For one season? You think someone like Gomez is good enough to be the main striker for a top 4/5 club in Europe?

Or are you actually saying you'd have liked to pay the €20m for him for the sake of a season and then relegate him to a €20m backup a year later when we sign a striker that actually is good enough?

I'm glad we kept our powder dry last summer rather than getting someone in just for the sake of it.

Opportunity cost.

No I'm suggesting Mario Gomez is far superior to all three current striking options and the fact he would have cost considerably less than Willian means that all this talk of their being no value in the market was a whitewash statement by the club to hide their failings in the market to strengthen a key area of the team.

Can't agree with you here mate, for me Eto'o is far more dangerous than Gomez, he still has speed, acceleration and showed against Arsenal he still is clinical. But actually I'm not a big fan of Gomez at all, think it's just a lame player. We should've baught Tevez or someone that caliber last summer.

Can't agree with you here mate, for me Eto'o is far more dangerous than Gomez, he still has speed, acceleration and showed against Arsenal he still is clinical. But actually I'm not a big fan of Gomez at all, think it's just a lame player. We should've baught Tevez or someone that caliber last summer.

I don't think Eto'o has half the speed or acceleration that he used to posses.

I don't think Eto'o has half the speed or acceleration that he used to posses. 

 

 

 

True that, but still that's four times more than Gomez even in his younger years.

costa would be a brilliant signing, you can tell he's suited for this league, you lot not worried about his behavior though? I see a lot of chelsea fans they'd never want suarez in their squad but costa isnt much better in all honesty 

costa would be a brilliant signing, you can tell he's suited for this league, you lot not worried about his behavior though? I see a lot of chelsea fans they'd never want suarez in their squad but costa isnt much better in all honesty

Well I'm not a fan of that side of him and if he acts like that the fans will soon let him know what we think also Jose surley would warn him.

I detest Suarez but lets face it as a player he is world class and I doubt the club would turn him away if he was available.

I detest Suarez but lets face it as a player he is world class and I doubt the club would turn him away if he was available.

 

Even though liverpool was the only club in for him when he was available at AJAX?