Diego Costa is 'a bargain', says Jose Mourinho after £32m striker scores twice on Chelsea home debut
Costa settled the match in the opening seven minutes
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Your support makes all the difference.Jose Mourinho hailed £32m striker Diego Costa 'a bargain' after seeing the striker score twice on his home debut.
The 25-year-old scored two in seven minutes against Real Sociedad as Chelsea recorded a routine win at Stamford Bridge; Thibaut Courtois, Cesc Fabregas and Filipe Luis also made their home debuts.
Costa opened the scoring with a neat finish after just 57 seconds, then reacted quickest six minutes later to turn an Andre Schurrle shot that hit the post into an empty net. His total tally for pre-season stands at four goals.
Mourinho said Chelsea fans can expect Costa, who scored 36 goals in all competitions as Atletico Madrid won La Liga for the first time in 18 years last season, to fit right in next season.
“What can we expect? I expect Diego and Diego is a team player who works hard, he’s not just about goals,” Mourinho told the club’s official website.
“It’s about his defensive work, mentality and ambition. This is the player we bought and we were waiting for since last season. This is why we didn’t buy a striker in the winter market. We were waiting for him, we have him and hopefully everything goes well.
“He looks adapted to the team, and the Premier League, not just Chelsea, should be happy. Sometimes we lose important players going to other countries and sometimes we bring new top players here.
“You can consider that [a bargain] because the market is crazy and the values are very high. For a striker like him, a champion in Spain, a Champions League finalist, a 25-year-old, we consider the price was very much in our favour.”
Mourinho now has a clean bill of health for their Premier League opener at Burnley on Monday night, bar Didier Drogba who has a minor ankle injury and should return soon.
“[Drogba’s] good,” added the Portuguese boss. “I don’t want to say ready for Monday but with the quality of our medical department and the mentality he has, I’m not saying it’s impossible for him to recover for Monday.”
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