Diego Costa’s contract terminated by Atletico Madrid : Atletico Madrid have terminated Diego Costa’s contract at the Spanish side, freeing him up as a free transfer for the January transfer window.
The club announced on Tuesday that Costa’s deal — which only had six months left to run, until June 2021 — had been rescinded.
Arsenal are thought to be among the clubs who will be keen to snap up the veteran striker when the window opens on Friday.
After falling down the pecking order under Diego Simeone, Costa is understood to have instructed Atletico to tear up his contract which had just six months to run, with the striker picking up £270,000-a-week
Costa, 32, re-joined Atletico from Chelsea in January 2018 for €66 million after spending three-and-a-half seasons at Stamford Bridge.
His first spell in Madrid was a success, culminating in winning La Liga in 2013-14 and reaching the Champions League final that same season.
Costa scored 27 league goals that term as Diego Simeone’s team claimed the club’s first La Liga title in 18 years.
His return to the club was somewhat of a disappointment, with his form disrupted by a series of injuries that meant he was only able to score a total of 12 league goals over three years.
Last season, a herniated disc saw Costa absent for three months, from November 2019 until February 2020.
He began this campaign by testing positive for the coronavirus in September, returned to face a month-long absence with a hamstring injury in October, and was diagnosed with deep-vein thrombosis in November.
Costa returned to action, earlier than expected, to score a penalty in Atletico’s 3-1 La Liga win over Elche earlier this month, which will now be his last goal for the club.