Asmir Begovic urges Chelsea to reconcile with Diego Costa

Everybody’s got an opinion on the Costa-Chelsea palpable discord, but no one with an actual insider’s view has commented on the situation just yet. Costa of course has been talking to the media while on international duty with Spain and Chelsea briefed the usual journalists with their version of events, but all other commentary has been from an outside perspective.

Technically, Asmir Begovic is now an outsider as well, but he had just spent the last two seasons with Diego Costa, so he’s commenting from a relatively unique position as a former teammate — all of whom, Costa will have you know, are supporting him in this brouhaha.

“He's a top player and a great guy, someone who is very funny in the dressing room. It would be important for Chelsea to keep him and I hope the situation will resolve itself and they will have a good relationship going forward.”

“He's already won two titles in his three seasons at Chelsea. These players don't come around that often, centre-forwards who have got everything. Chelsea will miss him very much if they lose him.”

-Asmir Begovic; source: Sky

Begovic, now at AFC Bournemouth, is also commenting from a position of someone who doesn’t have to deal with any of this nonsense going forward, and of course he’s commenting about a fellow player so he’s not going to be too critical even if he was wanting to be. But even in that context, this is certainly a glowing review of Costa, as one would expect given that the striker is the class clown and the number one prankster in the dressing room — not to mention, certainly in the first half of the season, Costa was the player who was putting the most consistent fight and greatest effort in the squad, perhaps in an attempt to make amends for the transfer drama he himself caused last summer.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid this is one prank that has gone way too far. Begovic might hope for an amicable resolution, but it’s tough to see a way back for Costa at this point.