Diego Costa has long been linked with a move to the Chinese Super League and his ex-teammate Alexandre Pato would be open to the Spanish international joining him at Tianjin Quanjian.
Pato and Costa were teammates at Chelsea during the Brazilian's half-a-season loan spell in London and he believes they could form a strong attacking duo together, even if he isn't sure how likely it is to happen.
"[Diego Costa] is a great teammate and he could help us a lot," the 27-year-old said in an interview with MARCA. "Yet we [the players] don't know anything about it.
"What I do think is that I'm sure we'll sign a very important and top-level player this summer.
"I don't know [if it'll be Costa] as I just focus on playing.
"The ones in charge of these matters are [coach] Fabio Cannavaro and the president.
"We're a strong club with the economic capacity to sign good players and they will look for the kind of players who can help us to play in the Asian Champions League next season."
For Pato, having a World Cup winner like Cannavaro as coach is a major draw for players, just as it was for him when he decided to leave Villarreal in January.
"If it wasn't for Fabio [Cannavaro] I wouldn't be here," he said.
"I was happy at Villarreal and could have stayed there, but he convinced me to change my mind about coming."
As for whether or not he could see himself coming back to LaLiga or to European football one day, Pato didn't want to write off a return.
"Coming to China and then returning to Europe is difficult, but we never know what'll happen in the future," he explained.
"I have a three-year contract and when I finish it I'll be 30, yet many players keep playing at a high level in Europe in their 30s.
"For now I'm happy at Tianjin Quanjian, but you never know about the future."
Pato's move to China at the end of the winter window cost his new club an estimated 18 million euros, following an impressive six months at Villarreal.
