costa
Diego Costa

Chelsea striker and Spanish forward, Diego Costa has confessed that he was hoping to leave his current club to rejoin Atletico Madrid this summer. In an interview with a Spanish TV channel while in Spain on a brief vacation, the striker expressed his yearning to go back to Madrid.

“I wished I could go back to Atletico, I’m not going to lie. Everyone knows what happened to me there [England], with the language, the weather and everything. But I can’t complain because I’m a boy whom the fans love, at Chelsea they respect me.

“I had the chance to go back but I couldn’t, because of a few details. I’m grateful to the people at Atletico, to Cholo [Simeone] especially, who has always put his confidence in me.

“Now I am at Chelsea, I’m doing well, the league has started and I’m focused on that. Things are how they are. I hope that Atletico do very well, like last season but this time win titles. I want the best for them, I always feel for them, but I have to do my work at Chelsea.”

Costa who has often been criticised for violence on the football pitch also said he is not seeking to change his ways after he was left out of the country’s Euro 2016 squad by former manager Vincente del Bosque. The striker has however been enlisted by coach Julen Lopetegui for upcoming games for Spain against Belgium and Lichtenstein on September 1st and 5th respectively.

He stated: “If I didn’t get to go to the Euros because of my character, I wouldn’t join up with the Spanish national team again, because I will not change my way of playing. I am like this, with my character, and it’s that which helps me win games. For Del Bosque I only have words of thanks. He didn’t call me up for the Euros in France, but I’m not asking for an explanation.”