Chelsea
suffered an injury scare in training on Wednesday after Diego Costa pulled up
with a hamstring injury, though the severity of the strain remains to be
determined.
The Spain international, a £32m signing from Atlético Madrid this
summer, will undergo further tests at Cobham and while the initial prognosis
appeared grim, there are hopes the injury will not prove as severe as first
feared.
The
25-year-old has scored in each of his first two appearances in the Premier
League and has swiftly established himself as first-choice and a key member of
José Mourinho’s preferred line-up.
Although
Chelsea have not written off his chances of featuring at Everton on Saturday,
even if the injury rules the Brazil-born forward out for the forseeable future
they may sanction Fernando Torres’s mooted loan move to Milan.
Torres
is receptive to the possibility of joining Milan, though talks between the
Italian club and Chelsea have yet to reach agreement over the Spaniard’s wage
package. The striker, who moved from Liverpool for a then British record £50m
in January 2011, has two years to run on his £175,000-a-week contract and is
unwilling to take a pay cut if he departs Stamford Bridge. Yet having rarely
thrived over his three years at the club, there is a recognition that he will
only ever play a fringe role at Chelsea after falling behind Costa and even the
veteran Didier Drogba in the pecking order.
“Our
goal is to take a great striker,” said Milan’s vice-president, Adriano
Galliani. “We will see if we achieve our aim, but Fernando Torres? He is a
great striker. We are actively working.”
Should
Torres leave, Chelsea would seek to add a third senior forward to their ranks
before the transfer window closes on Monday, with interest established in
Roma’s Mattia Destro and, more intruigingly, the Monaco striker Radamel Falcao.
Falcao
is effectively available for loan and would be open to a move to London, even
though loan fees and wages combined would see a season-long switch cost around
£20m. Chelsea have long coveted Falcao, who shares his agent, Jorge Mendes,
with Mourinho.
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