Barcelona wanted to sign Diego Costa back in 2009

Diego Costa took the Premier League by storm last season and helped Chelsea to the English title and the Capital One Cup. Before that he was tearing it up with Atletico Madrid. But the striker has a long and interesting back story. 

In a new book (Diego Costa: The Art of War) by Fran Guillen, Costa's "brutal, exhilarating journey" is uncovered, from his home in Brazil to being unleashed in Europe. 

Here's an extract from the book, which explains how Barcelona wanted to buy him from Atletico Madrid during a difficult spell for the striker. 

For more information or to buy it, click here.

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“In 2009 people started to sit up and notice Diego Costa, and we had to think hard about what his next move should be,” says Jesús García Pitarch (Atletico sporting director).

“Even Barcelona wanted to buy him and their technical secretary, Albert Valentín, called to say, ‘What are your plans for him? I really like him – he looks like he’s got a bit of talent. We’d like him for Barca B’.

“‘Yes, I like him too. That’s why we bought him,’ I told him. ‘And I’m not going to sell him to you, firstly because I think this lad can go far and secondly because it makes no sense for me to sell him to you for €3m now. Better for me to wait five years and then you can

have him for €40m.’”

Valentín and Barcelona did not know, however, that Atlético were having problems with Costa in the summer of 2009.

García Pitarch: “He turned up 10 days late for preseason training, and then only after I had shouted and screamed down the phone at him. And when he did come back he was six or seven kilos overweight. The first thing he said to me was, ‘Why should I bother? You obviously don’t really rate me and I’d be happier if you’d just let me go’.

“‘Ok let me show you how highly we rate you,’ I told him. ‘How many years do you want? Four? Five? You tell me. We’ll draw up the contract here and now.’

“‘Well … I don’t know about that. I’d need to talk to my agent first,’ he mumbled.

“I was furious. ‘I see, first you tell me that Atléti doesn’t rate you and then, when I say you can dictate the terms of your own contract, all of a sudden you need to talk it over with your agent. We couldn’t do much more to show you how much we value you!’"

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Diego Costa: The Art of War is out now in paperback and ebook, published by BackPage / Arena Sport