Atletico Madrid Will Reportedly Move for Edinson Cavani If They Sell Diego Costa

Atletico Madrid will reportedly make a move for Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani in January if they manage to offload Diego Costa to a Chinese club. 

According to Le 10 Sport (h/t Goal), the La Liga team would hope to recoup around €70 million (£63.4 million) by selling Costa to the Chinese Super League, funds they would then use to tempt PSG into selling Cavani, who has only 18 months left on his contract at the Parc des Princes. 

Costa, 30, rejoined Atleti from Chelsea last season and played a key role as they won the UEFA Europa League.

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This season, though, he has managed only one goal in 11 La Liga matches and is now recovering from foot surgery.

Cavani, meanwhile, has continued his remarkable scoring record with PSG as he has netted 10 goals in 10 Ligue 1 games in 2018-19.

The 31-year-old is one of the most reliable goalscorers in European football and shows no signs of waning.

However, at PSG he is not the main man:

Despite the Uruguayan's immense ability he is always likely to play second fiddle to Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

At Atleti, Cavani and Antoine Griezmann could form a deadly partnership in attack, and the Madrid club also have much better pedigree in the UEFA Champions League than PSG.

The French champions have failed to get past the quarter-finals in any of the last six seasons in Europe's elite tournament, while Atleti have reached a semi-final and two finals.

Cavani has been at PSG since 2013, and he may well feel his race is run in Paris.

It is rare that Atleti would have the financial clout to afford such a phenomenal player.

But given Cavani's contract situation and the potential windfall from a Costa sale, Diego Simeone may well be able to secure an elite striker for his squad.