Diego Costa: The Art of War

by Fran Guillén

Summer 2014. Diego Costa has arrived for his first day as a Chelsea player and he has something he wants to say to his new team-mates. He's been practising a single, short sentence. Actually, a mission statement. "I go to war - you come with me." In The Art of War, Fran Guillen retraces every step of Costa's brutal, exhilarating from street footballer in his home city of Lagarto, north-east Brazil, to La Liga winner at Atletico Madrid, through loan spells at Celta Vigo, Albacete, Valladolid and Rayo Vallecano, and finally to Premier League champion with Chelsea in 2015. Through exclusive interviews with coaches, team-mates, agents and friends, Spanish journalist Guillen uncovers the inside story of Costa's arrival in Portugal as a 17 year old and his move to Atletico Madrid where, under Diego Simeone, the player's goalscoring finally started to eclipse his fearsome reputation and saw his emergence as one of the world's greatest strikers. Then in 2014 Costa made the shock decision to defect from the Brazilian side and play for Spain in the World Cup.

After a disastrous tournament, Costa joined Jose Mourinho's Chelsea and immediately dispelled the ghosts of Brazil by taking the Premier League by storm in an indomitable debut season at Stamford Bridge. This is an inspiring and insightful portrait of English football's new superstar. Let's go to war.

227 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 30, 2015

Reviews

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid but not great footballer biography, examining the intensity of Spain striker Diego Costa's game. Taking the reader up to the end of the 2014/15 season, it left me with the impression that he has everything to play for as he looks to cement his reputation as a world class forward. The book doesn't shed too much light on character, or share many new insider anecdotes, but it gives us a basic portrait: Costa has had to fight his way to the top, he is fiercely talented on the field - thought sometimes too aggressive - and is potentially your best friend off it.

His well known injury problems get a proper mention and help to define his career so far but I do feel this is a book that could have waited till later instead of being published now, prematurely. There are still a lot of question marks as to how far Costa can go and if he can shake off his injuries to become the best, so unfortunately this book is necessarily shallow and inconclusive.

Ultimately it turns it is way better to watch Costa on the pitch than read about him off of it but don't let that deter you if you are looking for a short, football-related read.

[Yash Mulani · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, this book was a very well written book as it used strong language and really opened up a wide range of the player's feelings.