Diego Costa thanks Mourinho for improving him as a player

Diego Costa, one of the “three rats” alongside “Cesl” and “Iazzard”, rediscovered his scoring touch (and lost some of his “edgier” habits) soon after Jose Mourinho was sacked last season, spending the next twelve months as one of the Premier League’s hottest goalscorers.

But while silly banners like that led to (and gave weight to) plenty of rumors regarding dressing room discontent and palpable discord in Jose’s final days — one also gets reminded of the whole bib-throwing thing — Costa for one does not seem to harbor any personal ill feelings.

“In all honesty I always tell people that I am grateful to Mourinho because he helped me a lot.”

“As a player when you want to improve you always look for the best coach and Mourinho is one of the best. I wanted to come to Chelsea because of Mourinho. When I considered Chelsea I thought about the fact that Mourinho was here.”

“He is a coach that demands a lot from his players, he wants the maximum. He helped me a lot and then what happened is that the following season didn't go well, these things that happen, but the truth is that Mourinho helped me a lot to improve as a player.”

-Diego Costa; source: Sky

Those quotes are just a few teasers from Costa’s full interview with Thierry Henry, which will air on Sky Sports ahead of the big game on Sunday.

Since the calendar turned over to 2017, Costa’s aforementioned scoring touch has once again deserted him, but there’s every hope and confidence (certainly from the Chelsea boss and his teammates) that he will find it once again sooner rather than later. Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford, his first as a Chelsea player, coming up against the man who brought him to this league, would be a more than fantastic time to do so.