Premier League defenders beware: Diego Costa is back in the Premier League - and he could make his Wolverhampton Wanderers debut against champions Manchester City.
Wolves have officially confirmed the signing of the two-time Premier League winner, with the Spain international signing a one-year contract. Costa has been out of contract since the start of 2022, but answered Bruno Lage’s SOS call to seal his return to English football.
Costa, who scored 59 goals in 120 matches for Chelsea, has been without a club since prematurely ending his stay at Brazilian champions Atletico Mineiro. But with Wolves in desperate need for attacking reinforcements, they have turned to the veteran striker.
Wanderers boss Lage was forced into action just a week after the summer transfer window closed when Sasa Kalajdzic suffered a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament minutes into his own Molineux bow.
And with Raul Jimenez struggling with his own issues regarding fitness and form, Wolves scoured the list of available out-of-contract stars, settling on Costa. The deal was hanging in the balance earlier this week, after it emerged he didn’t automatically qualify for a work permit.
Due to the fact he has been inactive for much of the year, he didn’t reach the required points to automatically qualify for a Governing Body Endorsement. That forced Wolves to appeal the decision, with the panel ruling in their favour and enabling a deal to be completed.
Costa then flew into the Midlands on Wednesday night, before completing a series of fitness tests to ascertain whether he was still up to the rigours of the Premier League. But with those now completed, he joins a side who have scored just three times in their opening six league encounters.
Their most recent strike came in the victory over Southampton at Molineux on Saturday - their first victory of the league season. His arrival comes with Wolves facing a daunting stretch of fixtures, which could start with a game against Man City. The Premier League are yet to officially confirm whether matches will go ahead next weekend with the Queen's state funeral set to take place next Monday (September 19).
Costa will then have another couple of weeks to get his sharpness back before a meeting with West Ham at the start of the next month. A week later is then the tantalising prospect of the fiery veteran returning to the stadium where he enjoyed so much success to take on Chelsea.
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His time with the Blues didn’t end all too positively, after attempting to force a move to China during his final season with the club. In the end, Antonio Conte deemed him surplus to requirements and allowing him to rejoin Atletico Madrid.
“It’s right always to keep good memories and I prefer to keep good memories also about Diego Costa because we won together a league title in an incredible season,” Conte said of Costa’s acrimonious exit. “But, for sure, the truth, we know the truth. The player, his agent, the club and I. We know how many times he asked to go away to Atletico Madrid at the start of the season, during the season to go to China, and at the end of the season to join, again, Atletico Madrid.”
Another fixture for the notebook will be when player and former manager come head-to-head, although both will have to wait until March of next year for that awkward handshake.
