Mourinho hails ‘bargain buy’ Costa

Spain striker marks debut for Chelsea with two strikes against Sociedad.

LONDON: Jose Mourinho claims Chelsea’s Diego Costa will prove a bargain buy after the Spain striker marked his home debut with a clinical double in the 2-0 friendly win over Real Sociedad.

Mourinho splashed out £32 million to lure Costa from Spanish champions Atletico Madrid and the Blues boss is convinced even that hefty price tag will look cheap by the end of the season.

The 25-year-old certainly looks capable of justifying Mourinho’s faith after making a confident bow for his new club at Stamford Bridge.

He took just 57 seconds to open the scoring with a cool finish from an acute angle and bagged his second with a tap-in after Andre Schurrle’s shot hit a post in the seventh minute.

As well as his goals, Mourinho was also impressed with the way Costa linked with attacking midfield trio Schurrle, Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas, while working tirelessly to close down Sociedad when they were in possession.

His qualities look ideally suited to the Premier League and Mourinho said: “Costa is a team player, he works a lot; he is not just about goals. He is about defensive work, his mentality, his ambition.

“This is why we didn’t buy a striker in the last transfer window — we were waiting for him. He looks very adapted to his teammates and the style of play.

“I won’t say he is adapted to the Premier League yet because it is a very difficult job to be a striker in this country, but hopefully he does well.

“You can consider that it is a bargain because the market is crazy.

“The values for strikers are very high, so for a young striker like him, a champion in Spain and a Champions League finalist, you can say the price Chelsea paid is very much in our favour.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2014.

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