Diogo Costa has been on Chelsea’s radar (Photos by Octavio Passos, Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Chelsea remain interested Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa as a long-term transfer target, but could face competition from Bayern Munich as Manuel Neuer considers retiring at the end of the season.
Sources with a good understanding of the situation have reported Caught offside that Chelsea have long been interested in Costa after being impressed by his performances at Porto, with the Blues still monitoring the goalkeeping market following a patchy run of form from Robert Sanchez.
Costa could probably be an upgrade from Sanchezthat this season has seemed a bit of a weak link in Enzo Maresca’s team, but Bayern are also very interested in the Portuguese international.
Caught offside understands Porto are reluctant to let Costa go, and could need offers in the region of €70m to persuade them to let the 25-year-old leave the club.
The transfer of Diogo Costa could be what Chelsea need
Chelsea have made real progress since appointing Maresca as manager, but it seems pretty clear that this team still lacks a genuine world-class goalkeeper like the great Chelsea teams of yesteryear.
When Chelsea were at their best, they relied on key players as key players like Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois.
Sanchez is simply not in that kind of elite, and Costa would be worth spending a lot of money on.
Even so, Caught offside Bayern are said to be keen on the player as they make a replacement for Neuer a priority, while Manchester United are also understood to be long-term admirers.
For now, though, Man Utd seem to have seen some improvement from Andre Onana, so he might not be such a direct rival to Chelsea for Costa at the moment.
It will be interesting to see how this saga plays out, but it seems clear that Sanchez needs to improve his form or he won’t be Chelsea’s number one for long, despite Maresca’s public support.
