Report: Roma to Make Third Attempt for Diego Costa

Transfer rumor reporters are a dogged bunch. Hour after hour they do the dirty work of digging up (and possibly creating) transfer rumors, searching in every dark corner and hidden alley of the football world. And if a particular rumor doesn't gain immediate traction, never fear; just give it a few months (or possibly years) and try it again.

Case in point: Roma's rumored pursuit of Diego Costa, a story that dates all the way back to 2013, per certain reports. Back then, Costa hadn't quite made a name for himself on the global stage, but he was coming off back-to-back 10 goal seasons for Atletico Madrid and seemed like a good buy-low candidate for the Giallorossi. The deal never materialized but Costa would get his day in the sun, making a £32 million switch to Chelsea in the summer of 2014 after exploding for 27 goals during the 2013-2014 season with Atletico.

Costa has spent the ensuing six seasons bouncing back and forth between Chelsea and Atletico, but seemed to peak with a 20 goal effort for Chelsea during the 2016-2017 season. Since then, Costa has been in a bit of a tail spin, moving back to Spain for ‘17-’18 season, where he's remained ever since, scoring only seven goals in parts of three La Liga seasons.

Quite a drop indeed, but sensing a chance to strike a bargain, Roma were hot on Costa's tail last summer as well, seeing him as a complement to Edin Dzeko, but wound up with a different Atletico player, Nikola Kalinic, who has, uh, played for Roma.

With Kalinic likely heading back to Atletico for the 2020-2021 season, Roma are, according to El Mundo Deportivo, interested in finally bringing Costa aboard as an alternative and/or backup to Dzeko. They don't speculate on a price or formula, but considering he's basically spare parts at Atletico, something tells me it would be an easy transaction.

This wouldn't be the most exciting transfer to ever hit Roma, and Costa would very likely be a role player for the Giallorossi, but his peaks were far higher than Kalinic's, so there's at least the allure that Costa could discover the fountain of youth in the capital.