Exclusive: Player’s retirement could spoil Chelsea’s €70million transfer plan

Chelsea remain interested in Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa as a long-term transfer target, but could face competition from Bayern Munich as Manuel Neuer is considering retiring at the end of the season.

Sources with a close understanding of the situation have informed CaughtOffside that Chelsea have long had an interest in Costa after being impressed by his performances at Porto, with the Blues still keeping an eye on the goalkeeper market after some patchy form from Robert Sanchez.

Costa could likely be an upgrade on Sanchez, who has looked like a bit of a weak link in Enzo Maresca’s side this season, but Bayern are also very interested in the Portugal international.

CaughtOffside understands that Porto are not keen on letting Costa go, and it could take offers in the region of €70m to persuade them to let the 25-year-old leave the club.

Diogo Costa transfer could be just what Chelsea need

Chelsea have made real strides since appointing Maresca as manager, but it seems pretty clear that this team is still lacking a genuine world class ‘keeper like the great Chelsea sides of old.

Back when Chelsea were at their best, they relied on world class shot-stoppers like Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois as key players.

Sanchez just isn’t in that kind of elite bracket, and Costa could be worth spending big money on.

Still, CaughtOffside have been told that Bayern really like the player as they make a Neuer replacement a priority, while Manchester United are also understood to be long-term admirers.

For now, however, Man Utd seem to have seen some improvement from Andre Onana, so might not be as direct a rival to Chelsea for Costa at the moment.

It will be interesting to see how this saga materialises, but it seems clear that Sanchez needs to improve his form or he won’t be Chelsea’s number one for too much longer, despite public backing from Maresca.

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