Former Chelsea striker Diego Costa has secured his return to the Premier League once again. Costa will feature for Wolverhampton Wanderers as he comes in as a replacement for new £15million summer signing Sasa Kalajdzic, who suffered an unfortunate and serious knee injury recently.

During the 1-0 victory over Southampton at the Molineux Stadium last Saturday, Kalajdzic suffered an anterior cruciate ligament damage which left him devastated. The fact that this injury arrived just after the Austrian number 9 had joined Wolves from Stuttgart and is feared to miss the majority of the season is even harder to digest.

Because of this long-term injury to the 25-year-old, Wolves manager Bruno Lage lacked options up front. Youngster Fabio Silva had been sent on loan to Anderlecht, leaving 31-year-old Raul Jimenez as the only recognised striker in the team. However, Jimenez has also been injury prone lately and the Mexican had complained of a groin problem during the warm-up before the clash with Southampton on Saturday.
As such, Wolves needed to move quickly outside the transfer market and they found the solution in 33-year-old Diego Costa, providing him an opportunity to still prove that he can succeed in the Premier League.

The Brazil-born Spain striker had spent four years in England with Chelsea between 2014 and 2017, during which he appeared in 89 matches for the London-based club. Costa had found the net on 52 occasions during that spell and helped the club to win two titles. He had also built himself a reputation of being hard to defend against because of his physicality while also proving to be a master of the dark arts.
However, he has struggled to recreate the same charm in front of goal since leaving Chelsea in 2017 and has managed just 19 goals across all competitions for Atletico Madrid and his last club Atletico Mineiro in Brazil.

Being a free agent, Wolves were able to complete the signature of the 33-year-old even though the transfer window had shut long before. Costa will join up with the club’s training base in Compton on Tuesday and also undergo proper medical tests.

Wolves are also concerned about his lack of match fitness as he hasn’t played any professional football since leaving Atletico Mineiro in January. If everything goes well, he will be offered a one-year contract with the club to provide cover for the injured Kalajdzic.