Spanish striker, Diego Costa has joined Wolves on a free transfer nine months after he departed Atletico Mineiro.
Wolves’ decision to swoop for Costa has come about due to an injury crisis amidst their central strikeforce, with Raul Jimenez and Sasa Kalajdzic out injured whilst Fabio Silva and Leonardo Campana are out on loan at Anderlecht and Inter Miami.
Explaining his decision to join Wolves until end of this season, Costa said that he was keen to join a club where he can easily adapt and fit within the squad, although he acknowledged Jimenez and Kalajdzic’s injuries as he wished them well in their recoveries from respective groin and knee injuries.
Costa therefore will add proven experience with 188 goals in 495 appearances for nine different clubs, including Chelsea where he scored 59 goals in 120 appearances across three seasons between 2014-17 during which he helped the club to two Premier League titles and one League Cup honour.
The 33 year-old therefore believes that he feels “motivated” about returning to English football now that his inner fire has been relit.
Upon leaving Chelsea, Costa returned to Atletico Madrid for a second spell after having previously played for the La Liga club prior to his move to West-London,
Across both spells at Atletico Madrid, Costa helped the team win seven major titles including;
- 3 x UEFA Super Cup
- 2 x La Liga
- 1 x UEFA Europa League
- 1 x Copa del Rey
Costa however was released in December 2020 and joined Brazil’s Atletico Mineiro in August 2021 for five months.
He however was released by Mineiro in January 2022 after he scored just five goals in 19 appearances during which he helped the club win Brasileiro Serie A and Copa do Brasil, with his departure meaning that Costa had spent the last nine months as a free agent.
Speaking about the decision to sign Costa on a free transfer, Wolves Chairman, Jeff Shi commented: “We are absolutely delighted to welcome Diego Costa to Wolves, and back to the Premier League.
“A serial winner with a wealth of experience at the highest level, Diego will bring something unique to our dressing room and on the pitch, and we look forward to his impact at Molineux and Compton this season.”
Costa added that his aim for the season is to “Score goals, do the best I can, give it my all. Find my place as a person, a player and understand how I actually feel because this is a big challenge.”
He however iterated that this won’t be “an easy challenge” because the Premier League is “very demanding” in terms of physicality.
Costa – who was born in Lagarto, Brazil – initially represented Brazil in international football and earned two caps, yet chose to switch allegiance to Spain in Summer 2013 and went on to score 10 goals in 24 caps for Spain between 2014-18.
Should Premier League resume their season this weekend after last weekend’s games were postponed due to death of Queen Elizabeth II, Costa could make his debut against Manchester City at Molineux on Saturday 17 September in a 12:30pm BST kick-off live on BT Sport.
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