John Obi Mikel believes Chelsea team-mate Diego Costa's scintillating early-season form can be put down to a desire to prove his critics wrong following a disappointing 2015-16 campaign.
“I definitely think he can get even better," Mikel told Goal. “He can score more goals, he can help the team even more, but Diego is a player that likes to find and doesn’t give up. He knows that everyone had a bad season last year so I think this season he is trying to prove people wrong and he has started well and hopefully he will have a very good season.”
“I think Costa is a very emotional player,” he continued. “He likes to win and he wants to win. He wants to be better than the opponent and there’s no problem with that, but I think with his emotion, a lot of clubs have seen that and have maybe, yes, come into target him. Some come in to provoke him and try to get him sent off. At the same time, he wants to win and that is what makes him the player hie is today, if you take that from him he won’t be the same Costa".
“You have to give him that freedom to express himself but sometimes you have to pull him back a little bit and tell him to calm down. You definitely don’t take that away from him, he is an emotional player, let him express himself and play the way he wants to play.”
Source: transfermarketweb.com