Chelsea have signed the Brazilian born Spanish International Striker Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid for £32m
Fantasy premier league tips – new player profile – Diego Costa
Background
Chelsea hope to have resolved their striking problems by signing 6 foot 2 inch 25 year old Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid for £32m. Chelsea last year unquestionably had the best defence in the league. However in finishing in third place they scored 30 goals less than 2nd place Liverpool and 31 goals less than Champions Manchester City. Clearly an issue.
The 3 strikers at the Chelsea in Torres, Ba and Eto’o were hardly a success. They scored 19 premier league goals between them. That’s less than Yaya Toure did by himself. A striker is seen as the last piece of the jigsaw in challenging for the title
As you will see from the Stats below 2013-2014 was Diego Costas breakout year off the back of Falcao leaving for Monaco. He scored 27 goals in 35 games and was 3 rd La Liga goal scorer behind Ronaldo and Messi.
Lets look at his stats. Well onl’y cover league stats.
| Diego Costa stats | ||||
| Season | Team | matches | goals | assists |
| 2013/14 | A Madrid | 35 | 27 | 5 |
| 2012/13 | A Madrid | 31 | 10 | 12 |
| 2011/12 | A Madrid | 16 | 10 | 4 |
| 2010/11 | A Madrid | 28 | 6 | 4 |
| 2009/10 | R Valladolid | 34 | 8 | 6 |
| 2008/09 | Albacete | 35 | 9 | 0 |
| 2007/08 | Celta Vigo | 30 | 6 | 0 |
| 2006/07 | Braga/Penafiel | 20 | 5 | 1 |
| Totals | 229 | 81 | 32 | |
In Europe last year he had a very sucessful Chapions league scoring 8 goals and 2 assists in 9 games. His international career has not been anything like as successful. He’s played 2 competitive Internationals for Spain all in the World Cup 2014 where he didn’t score and had 1 assist. He was generally poor in the World Cup although he was recovering from an injury. It may also take some time to adjust to playing in a side dominated by Barca and Real Madrid players.
Fantasy premier league perspective
After the failures of the 3 strikers last season (Eto’o has already been released) gametime won’t be an issue apart from the rotation that goes with every striker that is in the top 4 challenging teams and playing in the Champions league.
Jose Mourinho, in terms of strikers is most known for his strong relationship with Didier Drogba. Costa like Drogba is a Mourinho striker fast, agressive, strong and good in the air. Mourinho once said of Benzema at Real Madrid “If you can’t go hunting with your dog, then you have to take your cat”. Costa is a very agreesive striker which may have a slight negative of yellow cards.
Apart from the Drogba comparisons, he’s also a proper striker. All bar 1 of his goals last year was in the penalty area. He is the penalty box finisher that Chelsea needs. He will suit Chelsea’s pressing style and will hunt down opponents much like Suarez does for Liverpool. That will be important for Chelsea who like to press opponents high up the pitch. As his low assist stats show he’s a player who is single minded in possession. He wants to score goals. He’s very direct and is focused on scoring and dribbling past opponents. He also is excellent in drawing fouls which will be important for whoever gets direct and indirect free kicks for Chelsea.
Costa is likely to play as the lone striker in 4-2-3-1 or as the central striker in 4-3-3. He will benefit from the assists that undoubtedly will come from Cesc Fabregas joining. Willian is also an excellent chance creator and will be better for 1 more year in the premier league. He will also be in the mix for penalties haven taken them for Atletico. However Hazard may have something to say for that. This will be a point of interest in preseason. All in all Costa is a real option for fantasy premier league managers next season. His only negative is the lack of assists. Generally the top strikers in fantasy premier league such as Suarez and Aguero have assists to contribute to their points scoring.
Summary
- Archetypal agressive Mourinho striker. Gametime secure apart from Champions league related rotation
- Good penalty box finisher
- Probably the central lone striker
- Will benefit from Fabregas additional chance creation
- Penalty taker? Pre-season check needed
Hope you found that useful.
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Fantasy premier league tips
Fantasy premier league tips
