Atletico Madrid chief discusses impact of Diego Simeone deal on Diego Costa transfer from Chelsea

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has refused to confirm whether Diego Simeone's new contract will be followed by the long-awaited arrival of Diego Costa from Chelsea.

On Tuesday (5 September) Los Colchoneros announced that the Argentinian boss had agreed to commit his long-term future to the club by signing a contract extension until 2020.

Indeed, this is the second time the 47-year-old Argentinian has agreed to stay at the club until 2020. In March 2015 he signed a five year deal but a year later backtracked and sought a two-year reduction that allowed his contract to expire in the summer of 2018.

Simeone has won one La Liga title and reached the Champions League final twice in recent years but it was said that the he believed that he could not improve on those stats due to the limited resources of Atletico in comparison with the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona and he was considering testing himself in another league, amid speculations linking him with the likes of Inter Milan and Chelsea.

So Simeone's latest decision to extend his contract again was seen in Spain as the precursor of Atletico finally signing Costa from Chelsea.

The manager has been vying for a reunion with the Chelsea wantaway for some time and Spanish radio station Cadena Cope reported that both deals were "directly linked" as Simeone had demanded the striker's return as an essential condition to agreeing his new contract.

Reflecting this, Cope added that Simeone's new deal worth €15m-a-year (£13.8m, $18m) is a statement of Atletico's belief in its manager and the next step to prove it will be to make another effort to bring Costa back from Chelsea.

However, asked by the Spanish reporters whether the manager's new contract is directly linked with the arrival of the Chelsea outcast, Cerezo replied: "No, why? You know very well that we can not make signing until January. A lot of things can happen from now to January. It could be Costa coming or many others."

Meanwhile, reports in Turkey, where the transfer window remain open until 8 September, have suggested that the player could make a loan move to Fenerbahce until January, when Atletico can resume business following a ban on transfer activity.

The move would make sense for Chelsea as the defiant Costa remains on an extended holiday in Brazil after revealing that Antonio Conte had informed him by text message in June that he was no longer part of his plans ahead of the 2017-2018 season.

However, it is uncertain whether Costa would accept a move to Turkey after having publicly stated throughout the summer that his priority would be a return to Atletico Madrid.