Marseille manager Andre Villas-Boas has revealed he was offered the chance to sign Diego Costa over WhatsApp – and he thought it was a joke.
Costa remains without a club, having departed Atletico Madrid by mutual consent earlier in the month.
The Spaniard pushed to leave the Wanda Metropolitano, but he doesn’t appear to have been inundated with offers from potential suitors. After all, he remains unemployed with less than two weeks left in the transfer window.
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As reported by Marca, Andre Villas-Boas, who manages Marseille nowadays, has revealed that the Ligue 1 outfit were offered the opportunity to sign the former Chelsea striker on a free transfer.
However, Villas-Boas is quoted by Marca giving his thoughts on the deal, revealing that it was completely implausible for them to pull off – and he didn’t even think it was legitimate at first:
“First of all, Diego Costa earns 16 million [euros] gross every year. It’s the first thing that we should recognise.”
“I received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number telling me that Diego Costa wanted to come to OM. I thought it was a joke.”
“He’s one of the best strikers in the world, [but we are] going to look for something else. We cannot pay this [high a] salary.”
The clock’s ticking for Costa if he wants to sign for a club while the registration windows are still open.