Everton have reportedly failed with a bid for Diego Costa.
According to Spanish newspaper Marca, Everton made a €75million (£66.5million) bid to sign Chelsea striker Diego Costa before last month’s transfer deadline.
The Toffees, who beat Bournemouth 2-1 on Saturday thanks to a brace from unlikely hero Oumar Niasse, splashed the cash over the summer to bring in a host of new signings.
Jordan Pickford, Michael Keane, Davy Klaassen, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Nikola Vlasic, Sandro Ramirez and Wayne Rooney were among the players to arrive at Goodison Park this summer, but the lack of a striker to replace Romelu Lukaku has been felt.
Niasse stepped up against Bournemouth, but Everton certainly need another striker in January – and Spanish newspaper Marca now claim that the Toffees actually missed out on Chelsea’s Diego Costa before the transfer deadline last month.
Costa, 29, may have hit 59 goals in 120 games for Chelsea since arriving from Atletico Madrid in 2014, but manager Antonio Conte has decided that he doesn’t want the Spanish international anymore, and he hasn’t featured since the end of last season.
Now, Costa is on the verge of re-signing for Atletico, but it’s noted that Everton also made a huge, club-record €75million (£66.5million) bid to sign him before the end of the transfer window.
However, it’s claimed that Costa only wanted to re-join Atletico, and subsequently prevented Chelsea from going any further in negotiations with Everton, whilst AC Milan also met similar refusal.
If true, it suggests that Everton and manager Ronald Koeman will have money to spend in January on the new striker that they so desperately need, and they will hope for better results than their pursuit of the talented yet divisive Costa.
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