Atletico Madrid confident of agreeing Costa deal by October

Atletico Madrid have not given up on signing Diego Costa and hope to agree a deal with Chelsea by October, claims The Daily Mail.

Diego Simeone's side failed to agree a fee with Chelsea before Friday’s deadline and now hope Costa will return to training with the reigning Premier League champions to help ease a return to Spain.

Missing out on Costa’s signature comes as no great loss to Atletico as they are currently serving a transfer ban and would not be able to register the Spain international until January anyway.

Conte told Costa he has no future at Stamford Bridge at the end of last season, but Chelsea have included the 28-year-old in their Premier League squad for the current campaign.

Atletico will encourage their former striker to leave Brazil and return to Chelsea training in order to help build relations between the two clubs, while also getting match fit prior to January.

Chelsea have made a stuttering start in the league in the absence of Costa but it remains unlikely that the Brazilian-born Spanish striker will ever play under Conte again.

Summer signing Alvaro Morata has made an impressive start to life at Chelsea, but there should be no denying the impact Costa has made at the club over the last three years.

Of players that have scored more than 15 goals in the last four Premier League campaigns, Costa has the best conversion rate (20.4%).