Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has denied saying quotes attributed to him that his club is "close" to signing Diego Costa from Chelsea.
Italian outlet Gazzamercato quoted Cerezo as saying: "We like [Costa] a lot, I admit it. We have spoken to the player and we're working to bring him back to Madrid. It's close, but I can't say any more than that."
However, the president later denied saying a deal was close, telling Spain's AS: "I do not speak of players at other clubs."
The original Gazzamercato story then changed Cerezo's quotes to say merely: "We like him. We're talking, but we're working on various players."
Costa, 27, left Atleti for Chelsea the summer after helping Diego Simeone's team reach the Champions League final, only to lose to Real Madrid in the 2014 edition.
The Spanish international then helped Chelsea win the Premier League title in Jose Mourinho's last full season in charge at Stamford Bridge in 2014-15.
However, Costa's production fell off during the 2015-16 campaign and it remains unclear how the striker might fit into new manager Antonio Conte's plans.
Atleti have also been linked to several Serie A strikers -- AC Milan's Carlos Bacca, Inter Milan's Mauro Icardi and Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain -- but according to Gazzamercato, the president played down those links.
"Bacca is a very important player, but we're not going to buy him. He's not in our plans," Cerezo reportedly said.
"Neither will we sign any other striker from the Italian league. Not Higuain, nor any of the other names which are circulating."