Chelsea at risk of long term cost in Jose Mourinho and Diego Costa’s increasingly Faustian pact

It was hard to question Mourinho’s judgement last season when Chelsea regained both the Premier League title and the League Cup. Now it looks altogether more flawed, writes Richard Jolly.

Chelsea's Diego Costa (top) passes Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho as he goes to warm up during the English Premier League match at White Hart Lane in north London on November 29, 2015. AFP PHOTO / BEN STANSALLShow less

The second goal in a 3-3 draw does not tend to be the most memorable. Especially when the equaliser comes in the 98th minute. In any case, well taken as it was, Bournemouth’s comeback meant the significance of Romelu Lukaku’s 36th-minute finish lay largely in the numbers.

It cemented the Everton forward as Jamie Vardy's closest challenger in the race for the Golden Boot. It was his fifth league goal of November alone. In contrast, Diego Costa has mustered only four in all competitions this season. His reward was a place on the Chelsea bench for Sunday's stalemate with Tottenham.

Costa and Lukaku are men whose paths crossed briefly but expensively: the Spain international joined Chelsea for £32 million (Dh176.7m) just before the Belgian left for £28m.

In some respects, it represents ancient history. In another, it illustrates the extent of Jose Mourinho’s investment in Costa: not just money, but faith. The best young scorer in England was sold as Costa was signed and if Lukaku’s departure had been signposted since he was loaned out the previous September, it nevertheless constituted a major decision.

The men Mourinho bombed out, the players who did not fit his blueprint, are scarcely short of talent.

Kevin de Bruyne showed as much, his strike and his assist for Manchester City against Southampton on Saturday meaning he has scored seven times and made a further six goals for colleagues already this season.

That Chelsea’s putative player of the year, the excellent Willian, plays in positions De Bruyne can occupy has a pertinence. Mourinho found a different, but effective, alternative. Yet the fact remains that he sold the Bundesliga’s reigning Footballer of the Year and Chelsea recouped only £18m for a player who would join City for three times as much 18 months later.

It was hard to question Mourinho’s judgement last season when Chelsea regained both the Premier League title and the League Cup. Now it looks altogether more flawed.

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Costa was pivotal as both trophies were secured, but his signing was evidence of short-termism. He was the finished article, Lukaku the work in progress. As with De Bruyne, Mourinho seemed less excited by their boundless potential while concentrating on what they could not, or did not, do.

And it is worth remembering the extent to which Mourinho’s fortunes are tied up with Costa’s. The Portuguese did not sign a striker in January 2014 when one might have won him the title. He was waiting for Costa to become available in the summer.

He has damaged his, and the club’s, reputation by defending some of his centre-forward’s indefensible antics. Such was his belief in last season’s top scorer that he felt the wretched Radamel Falcao was a plausible back-up this season.

Now the cracks in the relationship between Machiavellian manager and his ruthless enforcer have become apparent. Mourinho complained during the 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv that Costa was not attacking crosses enough.

He dropped him for Sunday’s stalemate at White Hart Lane, declaring he was “privileged” not to have been omitted before then. Costa, with rather pointless petulance, threw a bib in Mourinho’s general direction.

It is safe to say it probably was not the desired response. While it reinforced the image of Costa as a cartoon villain, his reaction when he returns to the team will nevertheless be rather more pertinent. In the meantime, the sight of Chelsea with Eden Hazard impersonating a striker underlined the impression that Mourinho’s master plan is unravelling.

His team selection was reminiscent of the time he fielded the winger Andre Schurrle as a lone striker, or “false 9”, at Old Trafford in August 2013. That also finished 0-0. Lukaku was the unused substitute but if Mourinho were trying to suggest he had no suitable centre-forwards, it proved the theme of a season that led to Costa’s arrival. He sacrificed much to get Costa and defend him.

If his exile proves lengthy, if his form does not improve and the goals do not return and if Chelsea are searching for another striker, it will seem a Faustian pact, yielding one successful season but coming at a longer-term cost.

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