Triple Raid on Atletico Madrid Can Win Blues the Title

Jose Mourinho has targeted La Liga Champions Atletico Madrid and has made a bid to take three of their most important players in one swoop.

John Cross of the Mirror reports that the west London club will make a joint £50 million bid to take Diego Costa, Filipe Luis and former Blues player Tiago to Stamford Bridge for the forthcoming campaign.

Cross also writes that Costa has competed his medical with the club and will put pen to paper on a deal worth £160,000 a week. 

Also, Luis is due in London on Saturday to finalise negotiations and rubber stamp a £16 million transfer fee, per Cross.

The move would strengthen Chelsea, bolstering their squad with three of European football's most in-form team.

Costa has been muted to join Chelsea for months and it is no surprise to see his deal slowly come to fruition, but Luis has only appeared on Mourinho's radar in recent weeks.

The Brazilian full-back has been a mainstay in the Atletico defence all season long, only missing six La Liga matches during the whole year, per Squawka.

Tiago would join his Atletico team-mates for a second spell at Stamford Bridge, becoming a useful squad player addition for Mourinho, arriving on a free transfer. 

The 33-year-old managed to play 23 times in the Spanish league championship last season, per Squawka, and proved to be a valuable asset to Diego Simeone. 

And with the possibility of Chelsea recalling Thibaut Courtois from his extended loan stay in the capital of Spain, the Blues will have plundered a rival Champions League team like never seen before. 

This kind of rapid squad building reflects Chelsea's urgency to make themselves the Premier League's best team once again and also shows that Mourinho needs to win trophies with immediate effect.

Former Blues striker Tony Cascarino believes that Mourinho could be sacked early season in the next campaign if his team does not hit the ground running.

He said to talkSPORT, per Jack Wilson of the Daily Star:

If we look at the history of Chelsea, an indifferent start can cost you your job. This season was difficult. He spoke about what Chelsea lacked to be champions, and he was spot on. That will count for nothing ten games in to next season if they don’t look a real side.

Roman Abramovich has sacked people for far less. Carlo Ancelotti left after being successful. They’ve had Luiz Felipe Scolari and André Villas-Boas [who have also been sacked]. Roberto Di Matteo won the Champions League [and was still removed].

After 10 or 15 games, if Chelsea don’t look right, I’d be very surprised ifMourinho was still there. The owner will give him everything he wants but, after that, if you don’t succeed very quickly you can find yourself out of a job.

Cascarino's assessments are correct, but Mourinho has gone a long way to securing his own future with the triple raid on the Vicente Calderon stadium club.

In Costa, he finally will have a striker who can finish, as opposed to the unreliable Fernando Torres and Demba Ba, and the aging legs of Samuel Eto'o. With Ashley Cole leaving the club and Luke Shaw looking to be heading north to Manchester United, per Jack Wilson of the Daily Star, the capture of Luis was an essential piece of business by the Special One.

Tiago's capture was also a clever move by Mourinho. He knows the player well, and he understands what he can get from him in terms of coverage and experience.

Chelsea may well have put themselves as front-runners for the title now with the capture of these individuals but must now address the central defensive hole left by David Luiz. If they can bring in a world-class centre-back, Chelsea will be the toughest team to beat in England in 2014-15. 

Source: Bleacher Report

By Rob Blanchette, Featured Columnist