Chelsea FC: These stats show star should be sold

Chelsea star forward has had a dramatic dip in form over the past ten weeks and he should be sold.

Diego Costa has been in questionable form lately and failed to score again in his recent outing for Chelsea against Crystal Palace despite several good chances.

The Spanish international hasn’t really been the same since January when the China rumours emerged. The striker had many chances to score against Crystal Palace but only got two shots on target out of nine attempts. He had a clear-cut chance to score against Palace but headed it wide. His heading really is an area of the game he’s weak at considering his size.

He’s scored three goals in his last ten matches for Chelsea which is a markedly less goal return than his previous ten matches before the January transfer rumours linking him to China where he scored seven goals in ten matches.

His conversion rate has dropped from 24.14% to just 10.34%, according to stats from opta.

He’s also only made two assists in his last ten matches. Opta shows that he created 1.5 chances a game before 14 January and after January, he’s made 0.3 chances per game.

A drastic dip in form indeed for the 28-year-old.

I’m afraid to say that it may be time for the striker to leave in the summer, especially considering the unrest it’s caused his teammates as they play the “will he or won’t he stay” game.

Chelsea need to sign a younger and faster forward who can make runs beyond the defence and beat the offside trap. Someone like Celtic’s Moussa Dembele would be perfect for on the wing taking Pedro’s place.

While, to replace Costa, Everton’s Romelu Luakaku or Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata remain favourites to land the Chelsea gig.  While, additionally, Sanchez rumours persist.

It’s ironic now that Chelsea fans are calling for Costa to go, considering the amount of hysteria and panic caused among fans when the initial rumored ‘bust up’ between Costa and the fitness coach happened leading to wildly reported rumours of Costa leaving.

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While it’s unfair as fans to turn on their beloved striker as soon as he stops scoring. Costa’s rumoured bust up with Conte and the fitness coaches added to the recent comments made by Costa in interviews stating he wanted to leave Chelsea last summer has caused animosity among fans and rightly so.

"“I did all that I could to return but it didn’t happen. “When Atlético had to wait for me, they didn’t wait. There was still a month to go [until the end of transfer window] and they didn’t have the patience.“On Conte’s first day, I told him that I wanted to join Atlético and he was upset with me and didn’t even look at me. Luckily, I started to score goals.”"

Costa did not need to come out and state that he wanted to go back to Atletico Madrid and leave Chelsea. It was uncalled for, and unneeded. Fans knew about Costa wanting to leave already, and it has caused a certain amount of mistrust for the centre forward among the Stamford Bridge faithful.

Here are some fans reactions:

I have always been an admirer of Costa but statistics don’t lie. He has had a drop in form ever since the Chinese offer turned his head. His heart simply isn’t at Chelsea anymore and fans can see that.

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Chelsea need to make a statement in the summer and signing someone like Lukaku or Sanchez would be a huge statement of intent.