Porto president Pinto da Costa insists he has not received an offer for goalkeeper Diogo Costa amid reported interest from Premier League outfit Newcastle United, speaking to A Bola, and won’t sell for less than £50 million.
Clearly, Da Costa has had enough. Enough of the speculation. Enough of the rumours. It’s time to set the story straight.
Sergio Conceicao, Porto’s much-coveted head coach, is not packing his bags and brushing up on his French. Not yet anyway. Former Wolves loanee Vitinha is not yet boarding a flight back to England either, despite Da Costa’s admission that an as-yet unnamed club have made a ‘considerable bid’ for the twinkle-toed playmaker.
And Portugal international Diogo Costa, one of the most exciting, up-and-coming shot-stoppers in Europe, is not on the verge of leaving the Estadio da Luz behind, regardless of how highly he’s regarded at Newcastle, Barcelona and so on.
How much do Porto want for Newcastle United target Diogo Costa?
“From what I have heard and read, FC Porto no longer has a team. Everyone has gone!” says Da Costa, poking fun at the relentless speculation the reigning Portuguese champions have to cope with pretty much every time the window opens.
“Diogo Costa is at Barcelona, (Mehdi) Taremi is at Fenerbahce, Vitinha is in England, Toni Martinez is at Valencia. Let’s start from scratch, we don’t have anyone!”
On a more serious note, the Porto president admits that there is very little he can do to stop a key player leaving if a club opts to trigger his release clause. Costa, linked with Newcastle via Record, has such a clause in his contract, albeit an expensive one in the region of £50 million.
“We have to admit, any player with a release clause, we cannot prevent them from leaving. We have already had big offers, but they did not reach the termination clauses,” Da Costa adds.
“The only thing I can promise is that there is no contact from any club regarding Diogo Costa until today, neither regarding Taremi nor Toni Martinez.
“There was a concrete offer of a considerable amount for Vitinha, which we did not accept and referred to the termination clause, which is the only way to take the player away from us.”
Over to you then Newcastle. Stump up £51 million, or don’t bother.
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