Diego Costa has hit the ground running at Chelsea as the latest English Premier League import from Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid's Argentinian coach Diego Simeone looks on during the Spanish league football match Club Atletico de Madrid vs Sevilla FC at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on September 27, 2014

Atletico Madrid may have a case to answer when it comes to the histrionics of their combustible manager Diego Simeone but one thing you could never accuse them of is lacking foresight and not having a succession plan in place.

Four times in the last 13 years they have harnessed a raw striking talent and then exported him, three times to the Premier League, for a whopping profit. Lesser teams would crumble after losing their prized goalscoring asset but they just roll out a replacement off the conveyor belt, slip him seamless into the void and fairly soon an English team are casting covetous eyes in their direction.

In 2001 Atletico felt the time was to cash in on Fernando Torres, after he had banged in 82 goals in 214 games and forced Liverpool to break their record transfer fee to sign him. 'Oh no,' the Atletico fans must have feared. 'How are we going to replace El Nino, our talisman who captained us from the age of 19?'. Fear not. Step forward Sergio Aguero who had been brought in and groomed as Torres' successor 12 months earlier.

It was a case of 'Fernando who?' after Aguero fired Rojiblancos into the Champions League for the first time and finished the season as the league's third top scorer. The Argentine marksman continued to rattle them in at a rate of a goal every 2.3 games and, in 2011, Manchester City felt compelled to break their own transfer record, parting with £38 million of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed's wealth to convince Atletico to sell them their golden boy.

How on earth would the Colchoneros begin to replace the son in law of Diego Maradona? By shelling out €40 million on Radamel Falcao, that's how. Eye brows were raised at the size of the fee to bring the largely unheralded Colombian from Porto but fans should have learned to trust their recruitment department by now when it comes to signing replacement strikers.

Falcao was nothing short of a sensation and waded through La Liga defences like a wrecking ball for two seasons, blasting in 52 goals in 68 appearances to ensure Aguero was quickly forgotten.

Manchester United's Falcao kicks the ball nest to West Ham United's Poyet during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford in Manchester.

In landing them the Europa League the Copa del Rey and the Super Cup, Falcao became the hottest prospect in world football and added €20 million to his valuation, a 50 per cent mark up then cash-rich Monaco had no hesitation in paying in the summer of 2013.

The loyal, seasoned followers of Atletico had, by now, become accustomed to being a selling club but how on earth, they would have reasoned, do you begin to replace a player who, among other feats, had scored five goals in one astonishing league game against Deportivo La Coruna and scored 36 goals in his debut season? He was staring them straight in the face. And this time, he didn't cost them penny as he had already been signed for £1.5 million (yes, really) three years previously.

Diego Costa was his name. He had been waiting patiently in the wings, playing a supporting role to Falcao yet was now given the huge responsibility of spearheading the attack and shouldering the goalscoring burden. And boy did he seize his chance. He scored 27 league goals, equalled a club record of eight Champions League goals in one season as Atletico not only broke the duopoly in Spain by winning La Liga, but also came within seconds of claiming a remarkable double by winning the Champions League. And what happened next? Yep, you've guessed it, a top English club raided them for their star striker, Chelsea paying the second highest fee in their history to land Costa.

He was very much on Liverpool's radar, too, but sharing the same agent as Jose Mourinho, he was always heading to west London and not the north west of England. And he's been assimilated into the Chelsea set-up so smoothly, as you'd expect from someone who had no qualms about switching his allegiance from Brazil to Spain on the eve of a World Cup in the country of his birth.

The only question marks surround temperament (he is certain to be sent off at some point this season) and his troublesome hamstring. It limited his involvement in last season's league decider with Barcelona and the Champions League final with Real Madrid. Chelsea masseur Billy McCulloch doubles up as the club jester but Jose Mourinho will not see the funny side if Costa misses too many games through injury.

Atletico, meanwhile, are laughing all the way to the bank having made a combined profit of more than £80 million by selling four world-class strikers yet still competing for, and winning, the biggest honours in the game.