Chelsea: Costa explains why he wanted exit; Napoli man linked; PSV move for midfielder

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One of the revelations of Chelsea’s season has been the return to form of striker Diego Costa, with 14 goals already this season, but it could not have been. The striker nearly left in the summer as he revealed:

“I wanted to go [last summer]. I was about to leave. There were family reasons for wanting to go back to Atletico Madrid, but it wasn’t to be and now I’m happy here. And I’m content. The people at Chelsea love me a lot and the manager, Antonio Conte, told me he counted on me. He is someone we can talk to, somebody whose support we can count on. He is calm with the players. He is not just a boss but a person too and you can see that people love him.”

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Conte will certainly be pleased that he kept hold of the Spaniard, who scored the fourth goal in Chelsea’s win over Stoke and is two goals ahead of Alexis Sanchez in the goalscoring charts.

The Sun state that preparations for next season could already be underway with Antonio Conte keen to add left wing back Faouzi Ghoulam to his squad to add depth on the flanks. With a Champions League campaign likely, the Algerian could be exactly the kind of player that the Blues need.

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With three assists in six Champions League games for Napoli this season, it seems that he has the quality and would keep Marcos Alonso on his toes in what is currently a very settled line-up.

Youngster Marco Van Ginkel could also play a role, having signed a new contract until 2019, but he has now joined PSV Eindhoven until the end of the season, say BBC Sport. The 24-year-old helped the Dutch side to win the league last season and will now re-join his former club.

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The Netherlands international has not featured for the first team this season but has featured for the under 23s as he has overcome a number of injuries.

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Craig Ballantyne.