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Analyst, TSN Radio 690 Montreal

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London – It’s been quite a welcome to 2017 for the team atop the Premier League standings.

Chelsea was dismantled by Tottenham in their opening game of the New Year, missing an opportunity to make history with the longest consecutive winning streak in a single season. A few days, after comfortably securing passage into the FA Cup fourth round, history was the theme around Chelsea once more when the club finally received approval to rebuild Stamford Bridge.

The good news didn’t last long. Less than 48 hours later, on the eve of Chelsea’s visit to the current champions, striker Diego Costa was making headlines as the subject of the latest big-money move to China from the CSL’s Tianjin Quanjian. The shocking revelation came amid reports the Premier League’s joint top scorer had become embroiled in a blazing row with head coach Antonio Conte and other members of the coaching staff. Costa hadn’t trained for the majority of the week leading into the match and didn’t travel with the team to Leicester.

Conte explained just ahead of kickoff that Costa’s absence was owing to an injury. The club got back to its winning ways and almost lost in the news cycle was Bournemouth’s bid to land club captain John Terry during this month’s transfer window.

Order and a sense of calm were restored when the players returned to training Tuesday. The papers here on Wednesday were full of beaming pictures of Costa laughing and joking with his teammates. Costa had been training with just a fitness coach for company in the earlier part of the week as Conte had given his players two days off after their comfortable road win at Leicester.

Costa had come close to returning to Atlético Madrid last summer but Chelsea refused to sell him. It’s difficult to imagine ownership entertaining offers anytime soon for a player who has been at the epicentre of the club’s return to the top of the Premier League. The more sensational tabloids here have now linked Barcelona to a move for Costa, whose contact currently expires in spring 2019, in the summer.

The 28-year-old’s play and much-improved demeanour so far this term are in stark contrast to whatever ailed Costa and his club last season. It was very much on the back of his 20 goals in 2014/15 that Chelsea secured the title. Remarkably, those 20 goals came in only 26 appearances.

This season he is on pace to better that total. The Spanish international has found the back of the net 14 times in only 19 matches. Following the Leicester win, the league leaders have already surpassed their entire point haul from last season.

Costa is without question one of the more popular players with Chelsea supporters and is in the conversation of world-class talents. He would likely be a starting striker at any club in world football, and is the exact type of player Chelsea will need when they move into the rebuilt Stamford Bridge.

The success Chelsea has achieved, coupled with the remarkable growth of the Premier League over the last decade, has spurred the club to simply outgrow Stamford Bridge. A rather unique setting for a soccer stadium – it contains two luxury hotels, a nightclub concert venue and two restaurants within the stadium boundary walls – Stamford Bridge is located in one of London’s wealthiest neighbourhoods.

Rebuilding it is without question Roman Abramovich’s boldest project since securing ownership of the club back in summer 2003. It is also going to set him back in excess of £500m ($800 million). Approval for the reconstruction of Stamford Bridge heralds the beginning of the end of a process that began in earnest all the way back in 2010.

The club has looked at relocating and building a new stadium close to Stamford Bridge twice since then. One location, Battersea Power Station, was made famous worldwide when Pink Floyd used a photo of it on the cover of their multi-million selling album Animals. Abramovich was knocked back on both occasions, which led the club to revisit the option of staying at Stamford Bridge.

The plans, which were submitted well over a year ago, left no stone unturned. Part of Chelsea’s meticulous planning submission included a look at the impact construction would have on a bat sanctuary that also calls Stamford Bridge home. At a public hearing on Jan. 11, where the local municipality held an open vote to approve the project, one member of the public voiced concerns about a local tree and the plans for pruning it.

The plans reveal that it’s not possible to enlarge Stamford Bridge, so the pitch in the new stadium will be located below the ground to accommodate the significantly increased 60,000-seat capacity. Chelsea is expected to vacate Stamford Bridge for three seasons after construction begins following the conclusion of the 2017-18 season.

Of more immediate concern to Chelsea is Sunday afternoon’s match against relegation-threatened Hull City, their first home match of 2017 in the Premier League. Earlier today, in his eagerly anticipated pre-match press conference, Conte faced a number of questions regarding Costa.

The Chelsea manager disclosed Costa was available for selection. With a wry smile on his face, the Chelsea manager refused to say if his top scorer would start against Hull on Sunday in what would be Costa’s 100th appearance for Chelsea.