Has the Chelsea front man been that bad?
Football fans have voted overwhelmingly in favour of Chelsea FC getting rid of star striker Diego Costa. The Spain international has been under-performing in this campaign as the Blues have struggled in general.
British tabloid The Daily Star conducted a poll asking whether Jose Mourinho and the Chelsea brass should pan Costa in lieu of French star Antoine Griezmann. A whopping 76% chose to oust the striker, the option stating ‘yes, he’s too injury prone’. The remaining amount of votes supported the ‘no, he’s too important to lose’ option.
While the absolute result of this poll may not be overly striking, the weighting of the votes certainly are.
Costa’s first season with Chelsea saw him score 20 goals in 26 Premier League games. This campaign has been nowhere near as productive with just three goals coming in all competitions.
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After his well-documented hamstring troubles sidelined him for small periods of last season, Costa has already succumbed to injuries in this campaign, appearing in only seven out of Chelsea’s 12 Premier League fixtures.
With the Blues struggling at the back, there is no doubt that production up front would have helped the team battle through this sustained rough patch. However, Costa has been more concerned with starting fights than scoring goals and Chelsea have accordingly suffered.
It is acknowledged that Costa’s fierceness and physicality is part of his game, but when he is not hitting the back of the net such a style provides little benefit for the rest of the squad.
The performances of Loic Remy and Radamel Falcao, which have been inconsistent and terrible respectively, have not helped matters either.
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Consequently, rumours are rife that Mourinho will be in the market for a striker in January, especially if suggestions that Falcao’s loan deal will be prematurely terminated are true.
This story is evidently playing on reports that constantly linked the Blues with a move for the French forward throughout the summer. However, even though Atletico Madrid have a history of parting ways with their stars should the money be appropriate, it would truly take something extraordinary to secure Griezmann.
The 24-year-old has just recently settled into the demanding system that Diego Simeone employs and Atletico are arguably in possession of one of their best squads yet. The only realistic bid that Los Colchoneros could accept would involve money on top of a return to the Vicente Calderon for Costa.
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Frankly, this is unlikely to materialise in the near future. Having said that, stranger things have happened.