The ManicaPost
When Antonio Conte secured the Chelsea job and glanced at the players he would inherit he was far from convinced about Diego Costa.
| Conte told Roman Abramovich he wanted to compete with his old club Juventus to sign Gonzalo Higuain, who eventually cost £75million from Napoli, or to prise Edinson Cavani from Paris Saint-Germain, until it became clear that was impossible. |
He liked the idea of a centre forward with more technical polish and, from afar, Costa seemed to be a troubled soul, dangerously combustible and pining for a return to Atletico Madrid.
Ask him today, and Conte would not swap his centre forward. He has fallen for Costa head over heels and must be relieved he listened to those at Chelsea who spoke up for their No 19.
He loves his passion and his combative edge, which arguably makes him more suited to the English game than either Higuain or Cavani.
He loves his readiness to carry responsibility. He loves his goals, too. There have been 12 already, including the winner against West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, to secure a ninth victory in a row.
Costa is the Premier League’s player of the month, the leading scorer and the whispers about his longing to return to Spain have been replaced by new ones about contract offers to extend his time at Stamford Bridge.
It is hard to believe this time last year he was among the players jeered and branded ‘rats’ by fans during the game against Sunderland, the first after Jose Mourinho’s sacking.
Chelsea are at Sunderland on Wednesday with the transformation almost complete and distinct parallels forming with the early years of Didier Drogba’s time in London.
Drogba pined for Marseille when he first arrived and clouded the goals and promise.
There was a low point when he dived in a game against Manchester City and the Chelsea fans booed, but he overcame it to become a genuine legend.
‘‘Didier was a huge figure on and off the pitch, both in goal-scoring and personality,’’ said Chelsea defender Gary Cahill. ‘‘You need strikers like that at a club like Chelsea and Diego is fitting into the role nicely.’’
‘‘He’s up there in world football at the moment. The stats don’t lie. He is on fire, banging goals in and winning us football matches. The fans are behind him. We hope that continues.’’
Both Costa and his predecessor are big, strong leaders of the line, and there were echoes of Drogba’s presence and sense of occasion in the brilliant winner against West Brom.
Even so, the relationship between Conte and Costa has not unfolded without friction.
On a pre-season tour of the United States, the new manager refused to play his striker in friendlies against Liverpool and Real Madrid because Costa was complaining of a sore back and coasting through training.
It was a small issue but important point for Conte as he was imposing his
mentality and standards in training.
He made it clear that after a lifetime at the top of the game he knew when a talented player was not pulling his weight.
After the game against Real, the Chelsea boss responded to questions from the Spanish press about Costa by admitting he did not know what the future held.
He took the Brazil-born Spain international aside for a private conversation before the start of the season.
Conte wanted reassurances about focus and commitment and got the answers he hoped for.
Against Leicester, in October, the second game of the winning run, Costa tired of the barrage of instructions from the touchline and reacted angrily by signalling to be substituted.
Conte left him on for 90 minutes and the pair clashed in the dressing room after the match, while the boss tried to deflect attention by telling the media Costa was concerned about collecting a fifth yellow card and missing the game against Manchester United.
For some, the most remarkable element of the transformation has been the 28-year-old’s new-found talent for self-control.
Although, inside Chelsea, many noted a behavioural change after the exit of Mourinho, who deliberately fired up Costa to provoke opponents during the final months of his tenure.
‘‘He’s channelling his aggression in the right way and not getting as frustrated as he usually would,’’ said Cahill. ‘His goal against West Brom was about work-rate, effort and class all in one moment. He had no right to score that goal whatsoever.’’
— Daily Mail
