Former Chelsea striker Diego Costa has been sentenced to 6 months in prison for tax fraud in Spain – but the Atletico Madrid ace can pay €36,000 fine to avoid any jail time.

Spanish outlet El Mundo report the Brazilian forward pleaded guilty to a tax offence amounting to €1.1m.

He is accused of defrauding the state of quite £900,000 by not declaring payments of quite €5.15m (£4.63m) after his move to Chelsea in 2014.

The tax agency denounced Costa for defrauding the authorities regarding €1m (£890,000) in image rights.

The Spanish treasury added another fiscal crime to Costa before withdrawing and halving the fine.

Costa is claimed to possess asked Atletico to pay the fee, which they refused. However, they did give the striker an advance on his wages, meaning he could pay the fine fully .

The fee is claimed to be around €500,000 (£450,000).

Costa was called to testify in June last year, acknowledging the fees put against him.

The 31-year-old was spotted arriving in court today for a brief period of your time , donning a protective mask .
An Atletico spokesman said on Wednesday: “Diego Costa reached an agreement a couple of of months ago with the prosecutor and has already paid the corresponding fine plus interest and thus the request for a jail sentence was withdrawn.’

“This week it's expected that agreement are going to be ratified in court, as is mandatory.