People may have wondered what all the fuss was about had they watched Diego Costa earlier in the season. The forward was struggling for form and always seemed to have injury doubts.

But last night (before suffering from another injury) Costa showed the world why Chelsea should try and keep him at Stamford Bridge and ignore any offers for his services.

His former club Atletico Madrid would have him back at the Vicente Calderon in a heartbeat. The Spanish international is a cult hero there and has the full support of their talismanic coach Diego Simeone.

Ironically PSG, the team he played against last night and who jokingly call him a fraud, are also credited with an interest. That idea could move a step closer if Zlatan Ibrahimovic decides to depart Paris this summer.

Now maybe Costa has become fed up being made the scapegoat of English football, maybe he wants Champions League football next term, maybe he wants to be reunited with Simeone or maybe he wants to visit Notre Dame on a regular basis.

But it’s up to Roman Abramovich, his board and his new manager to convince Diego Costa to stay at Stamford Bridge and win back some trophies.

While the squad could do with a new makeover, I think Costa’s warrior like approach is something that gives Chelsea a strong focal point to build from.

Fans, teammates and even the opposition appreciate Costa’s work-rate when it’s disciplined. When he tracked back into his own half to steal the ball away from Thiago Motta the Stamford Bridge crowd roared ‘Diego, Diego, Diego!‘. When he hobbled off with a calf injury, both PSG centre-backs David Luiz and Thiago Silva applauded him off. They were probably grateful not to see him hounding them down anymore.

Now of course there is that negative side to the game when his passion reaches boiling point and the red mist comes down. We all saw it against Arsenal earlier in the campaign. It can be frustrating but ultimately over the course of a season he’s worth the risk. That’s what makes him different to a Mario Balotelli type, he’ll go all out to prove himself and work for the team.

Again I admit he was poor at the start of the season. For whatever reason he looked the shell of himself and sometimes looked lost on the football pitch. That’s not all down to him, every forward falls on a rough patch. Chelsea just weren’t fully equipped with readymade replacements to fill the void.

But since Guus Hiddink’s arrival and the fiery hitman’s scuffle with teammate Oscar in training, Costa hasn’t looked back.

Since Christmas he’s appeared in fifteen games and scored eleven goals. Including strikes against Man Untied, Man City and PSG. Also in that same timeframe he’s contributed with six assists and picked up four yellow cards.

We seem to forget that he is only twenty-seven years old and still has three years to run on his contract. It really should be up to Chelsea if they want to keep him or not.

Whether or not he throws a tantrum about leaving shouldn’t matter. He throws tantrums all the time by all accounts. It’s all about putting an arm around him and convincing him that he’s still loved. Then once he steps on to the Stamford Bridge pitch agin he’ll try his hardest just like he did against PSG.

It’s all about support and having a coach that can get the best out of him.

Make him understand that his first few months this season weren’t good enough and if he wants Champions League football then he has to earn it at Chelsea. That should put the fire back in his belly!

Posted on March 10th, 2016 by scott
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