When Antonio Conte secured the Chelsea job and glanced at the players he would inherit he was far from convinced about Diego Costa.
Conte told Roman Abramovich he wanted to compete with his old club Juventus to sign Gonzalo Higuain, who eventually cost £75million from Napoli, or to prise Edinson Cavani from Paris Saint-Germain, until it became clear that was impossible.
He liked the idea of a centre forward with more technical polish and, from afar, Costa seemed to be a troubled soul, dangerously combustible and pining for a return to Atletico Madrid.
Ask him today, and Conte would not swap his centre forward.