An overwhelming plethora of tasks remains at hand for the incoming Mauricio Pochettino as he begins his Chelsea rebuild.
However, one of the biggest issues that the Argentine must immediately address is to find a new goalkeeper.
Frank Lampard, Thomas Tuchel, and Graham Potter have all dealt with a recurring issue between the sticks, as neither Edouard Mendy nor Kepa Arrizabalaga evolved into a long-term, reliable first choice.
The former is on the verge of a move to Saudi Arabia and starting the Spaniard throughout the campaign would be a risky and uncalculated decision.
Therefore, the Blues have been considering making a move for Diogo Costa.
What’s the latest on Diogo Costa to Chelsea?
According to Rudy Galetti, the 2021 Champions League winners, alongside Manchester United and Bayern Munich, are interested in the Porto man, who has a release clause of €75m (£65m).
The West Londoners appear to be at a crossroads in their search for a new shot-stopper as one target in Andre Onana is being tracked by the Red Devils, while Mike Maignan doesn’t want to join Chelsea after the club missed out on Europe and David Raya is seemingly set for a move to Tottenham Hotspur.
Therefore, it seems that Costa has emerged as the most attainable option for Pochettino.
Why do Chelsea want Diogo Costa?
The 14-cap international has been at Porto since 2011 and has risen through the youth ranks and made his senior debut for the club in August 2017.
As a child, he idolised Vitor Baia and at the start of the 2020/21 campaign, he inherited the number 99 jersey, made famous by his hero and Porto legend.
But it was the 2021/22 term that the 23-year-old become the club’s first-team goalkeeper, and was part of 16-game unbeaten league run, in which he kept eight clean sheets and was named as the league’s Goalkeeper of the Month for four consecutive months from December to March 2022.
Porto would eventually win the domestic double and the Portuguese was named in the Primera Liga Team of the Year.
More recently, he played every minute of his country’s World Cup campaign in December 2022 and became the youngest Portuguese goalkeeper to play in a major international tournament.
Statistically, the 6 foot 2 titan ranks within the top 5% outside of Europe’s top five leagues among his positional peers for clean sheet percentage and goals against per 90, as he's proving to be ready for the next step in his career.
Also sitting in the top 25% for crosses stopped, it's clear that Costa's shot-stopping ability and his commanding nature could be game-changing for the Blues as they look to finally put their goalkeeping woes to one side.
Described as “world-class” by compatriot Diogo Dalot, Chelsea should accelerate their attempts to sign the goalkeeper, who could excel even further under Pochettino.