It might not come as a surprise, but during the second half of August, Monaco were trying to replace a certain Kylian Mbappé, who was already well on his way to signing for Paris Saint-Germain.
The Ligue 1 champions, flush with cash, started getting linked with quite a lot of players, including rather unrealistic names, such as Cristiano Ronaldo (who was at the time still supposedly unhappy because of the tax thing in Spain).
Another name that popped up that looked like a long shot was Chelsea’s Diego Costa, with RMC in France at the time reporting an enquiry was made.
However, Le10 Sport in France claim in their monthly magazine that it went a bit further than that, with Monaco having discussions with the Blues striker’s agent, Jorge Mendes, about a possible deal, but one thing stood in their way: the player himself.
The French outlet state the principality club were unable to convince Diego Costa from choosing them over Atlético Madrid, the club he is so desperate to play for again after falling out with Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge.
Described as a ‘privileged target’ on their transfer list, Monaco never made an offer to Chelsea, knowing it would be in vain, but you have to believe that had the Spanish forward said yes to their advances, a deal would have been done.
After all, money isn’t exactly lacking at Stade Louis II these days.
