Costa's row with Chelsea is all about agent power play

What does it say if you can take the Premier League's top scorer out of the team at the top of the richest and most high-profile league in the world when he is 28, in his prime, and sell him to China?

It shows that you are top dog and the most powerful agent in world football; that you have the connections and the ability.

Such is the scenario for Jorge Mendes, if he can get Diego Costa out of Chelsea and into China.

In one deal, he will have reaffirmed his status as the world's most influential super-agent. And if the Portuguese can take Costa to China, then why not - eventually - his biggest clients: Jose Mourinho or, even, Cristiano Ronaldo?

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Mendes recently told Sky Sports Italia that Ronaldo had been offered a salary of £88-million a year to move to China by an unnamed club, and while the phrase "unnamed Chinese club" may provoke scepticism, no one doubts that Mendes is connected or that he wanted that snippet out there; or that those figures could actually stack up, or, indeed, that they might help earn better deals for clients at their current clubs.

"From China, they've offered à300-million to Real Madrid and more than à100-million per year to the player," Mendes said.

"But money is not everything; the Spanish club is his life."

Which is true. But if Real do not want Ronaldo in a few years' time or if Mourinho leaves Manchester United in years to come then the groundwork - and the financial parameters - are in place.

It was no coincidence that a photograph was in circulation last week of Mendes meeting Shu Yuhui, chairman of Tianjin Quanjian, one of the Chinese Super League clubs circling for global talent, and presenting him with a signed Ronaldo Real Madrid shirt.

That connection is Mendes's biggest, most powerful calling card, while there have been discussions about other clients of his - James Rodriguez, Radamel Falcao - being wanted.

So far, the biggest deals have been landed by Kia Joorabchian, who took another Chelsea player, Oscar, to Shanghai SIPG for a £57-million fee and a salary of £400 000 a week, while Carlos Tévez has moved to Shanghai Shenhua to become the world'sbest-paid player on £600 000 a week.

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Those figures will not have gone unnoticed by Mendes, and agents of his stature will attempt to corner the market where the money is and take pride in brokering the biggest deal.

Mendes did not take Mourinho to Chelsea in 2004 because he had a love of the Premier League or west London. He knew that was where the money was and that Roman Abramovich was reshaping the landscape of English football.

China is a whole new market; a whole new ball game. It is not of the same quality as the main European leagues, but it cannot be easily dismissed.

Another factor is that players such as Costa have little affinity with this country. Mourinho once described Costa, now a Spanish national, as coming from "the place beyond the sunset" in Brazil and it is no surprise that most of the players moving to China are from a Spanish/Portuguese/ Brazilian/Argentine axis. They are among the world's most travelled nationalities.

It has also been said that players will end up not getting paid - as happened to Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka - but, so far, the new wave of deals have involved paying wages and fees a year in advance.

The figures are astonishing.

Paris St-Germain (PSG) were gob-smacked when it became apparent that the £60-million-a-year offer made to Zlatan Ibrahimovic was genuine. He turned that down and joined United instead, although his former PSG teammate Ezequiel Lavezzi did move and became one of the world's best-paid players.

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It may not be sustainable.

China's football association this week announced a series of measures in response to "irrational" spending by clubs. They included a reduction in the number of foreign players who can appear for a club from four to three.

But agents will make hay while the sun shines and, therefore, Costa has become the centre of a power play that says "if you really want the big guys, then I am your man".

Chelsea - yet to receive a formal offer - believe this to be the case and will rightly not buckle to Costa's attempts to force his way out during the midseason transfer window.

It is partly why they have attempted to close the story down.

Manager Antonio Conte chose his words carefully: "If there are problems I am used to solving them in the dressing room and never in the press conference." Chelsea do not want to alienate Costa; they do not want a distressed asset.

It is similar - but not the same - as the scenario West Ham United face with Dimitri Payet, who has become a destabilising liability as he tries to force his way back to Marseille. Costa is not that but he is at the centre of a greater struggle.

The Daily Telegraph, London