Chelsea Linked With Big-Money Striker Swap Deal

With the January transfer window just around the corner, managers will be working hard to identify potential new signings, so we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the latest transfer gossip. Today, Chelsea are linked with a big-money swap deal.

Atletico Madrid are ready to offer Chelsea highly-rated striker Diego Costa in exchange for on-loan goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, according to the Mirror.

Courtois has spent the last two-and-a-half years on loan at the Vicente Calderon and has been hugely impressive between the sticks with Atletico understood to be keen on signing him on a permanent basis next summer.

The Mirror claim that Chelsea have told the La Liga outfit to forget about landing the Belgium star as they want Courtois to return to England after next summers World Cup and join a Premier League team on loan for the 2014/15 season.

However, the newspaper suggests that Atletico are so desperate to sign the 21-year-old stopper that they are now prepared to offer the Blues striker Diego Costa or midfielder Koke in a player-plus-cash swap deal.

Costa has been in red-hot form this season and the report states that he is one of the players Jose Mourinho is keen on taking to Stamford Bridge to solve his striker problems, so it will be interesting to see how Chelsea respond if the Spaniard’s do offer the Brazilian hitman in exchange for Courtois.

A swap deal could be very tempting for Chelsea as they need a top quality striker but with Petr Cech still at the club, Courtois could be seen as dispensable, so if they could get their hands on Costa it might just be enough to persuade Mourinho into doing a deal.

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