Diego Costa is back in the Premier League after signing a one-year contract with Wolverhampton Wanderers, the club announced on their website.
Costa has been out of contract since the start of 2022, but answered Bruno Lage’s SOS call to seal his return to English football.
Costa, who scored 59 goals in 120 matches for Chelsea, has been without a club since prematurely ending his stay at Brazilian champions Atletico Mineiro.
But with Wolves in desperate need for attacking reinforcements, they have turned to the veteran striker.
Wanderers boss Lage was forced into action just a week after the summer transfer window closed when Sasa Kalajdzic suffered a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament minutes into his own Molineux bow.
And with Raul Jimenez struggling with his own issues regarding fitness and form, Wolves scoured the list of available out-of-contract stars, settling on Costa.
The deal was hanging in the balance earlier this week, after it emerged he didn’t automatically qualify for a work permit.
Due to the fact he has been inactive for much of the year, he didn’t reach the required points to automatically qualify for a Governing Body Endorsement.
That forced Wolves to appeal the decision, with the panel ruling in their favour and enabling a deal to be completed.
Costa then flew into the Midlands on Wednesday night, before completing a series of fitness tests to ascertain whether he was still up to the rigours of the Premier League.
But with those now completed, he joins a side who have scored just three times in their opening six league encounters.
Costa told Wolves’ official website of the targets he is setting: “Score goals. Score goals, do the best I can, give it my all. Find my place as a person, a player and understand how I actually feel because this is a big challenge.
“It’s not an easy challenge because you’re not going to play in an easy league and you can’t play it the way you want to. This is a very demanding championship, physically demanding, and it is something to test myself with and I’m ready to give it a go.”