The 25 year old is yet to officially seal a move to Chelsea, but all parties have suggested that the move will materialize in a matter of days. Costa’s signing is a big signal of intent from the London club which notably suffered from the absence of a prolific number 9.
His performances last season made him one of the deadliest strikers in all of Europe. Costa registered 35 goals in 43 La Liga and Champions League appearances helping his club to record a historic Spanish League title and was also very influential as Atletico made their way into the final of the Champions League.
When Costa announced his intention of pledging his loyalties to Spain rather than his birth country Brazil, it was believed that the 25 year old would massively improve a side which lacked the presence of a world class striker. However the Atletico Madrid man failed to deliver such performances and people are now starting to doubt whether he really is worth the hype and money.
Costa had been compared to Chelsea legend Didier Drogba and following a commendable season with Atletico it was believed that Chelsea had finally found a striker in the mould of their former Ivorian star. The World Cup was his chance to show what he really is made up of, but instead he instilled doubts in a lot of people’s minds after not just failing to get on the score sheet but also failing to register a single shot on target.
The La Liga winning striker managed just two shots on goal both of which were way off the target, but it was not just his finishing which raised doubts, Costa failed to make his presence known on the field at all. The 25 year old managed to complete just 72% of his passes and managed to win just 30% of his duels which is a horrifyingly low number for a striker of his physique and strength..jpg?q=75&w=634)
Chelsea who were hunting for the next Drogba might very well be handed the next Fernando Torres judging by his performances in the World Cup.
However anyone who doubts the Spanish international must think twice. Diego Costa has had a stellar of a season to say the least and will most definitely build upon it. There are not many strikers in the world who can replace Radamel Falcao, Costa on the other hand did the job with aplomb.
Chelsea have in the past spent big bucks on a number of strikers most of whom have failed to have the kind of impact which was expected. The likes of Andriy Shevchenko, Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo and Fernando Torres are just a few examples with Didier Drogba the only exception.
However Jose Mourinho has finally hit the jackpot and Diego Costa is exactly the kind of striker who can drive the Blues forward. His scoring rate speaks for itself and his qualities are very consistent with Chelsea’s requirements. Mourinho tends to favor strikers who are capable of doing the physical work and can hold the ball well up the field. In Diego Costa Chelsea have a striker who ticks all the boxes and will without a shadow of doubt add a lot to their game.
Even though he has had a horrid of a World Cup campaign it would be very naïve to undermine the Spanish international. It would be very harsh to judge him on his performances based on just the two World Cup matches given the fact that he performed so consistently for Atletico Madrid last season. If given the time to settle and adjust, Diego Costa is a player who can easily put Chelsea’s striker woes to rest.
