LONDON -- Jose Mourinho believes Diego Costa is the striker that his Chelsea team "was waiting for," and says the Spain international is likely to be fit for Saturday's Premier League visit of Swansea City.
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The 25-year-old was forced to withdraw from the Spain squad for their Euro 2016 qualifying win over Macedonia last week due to another hamstring injury, but Mourinho revealed the ESPN FC August Player of the Month should be fit for the Stamford Bridge clash while emphasising his importance to the team.
"As you know, Diego came back injured but that was last Saturday," the Chelsea manager told his pregame news conference. "So we had one week to work hard with the medical department and he has a chance to play tomorrow.
"We have a training session now to confirm his condition and make the final decision, but he was the only one who came back from the national team with a problem."
With four goals in three #BPL matches, @chelseafc's Diego Costa is your Barclays Player of the Month for August. pic.twitter.com/W034zP5TYo
- Barclays Football (@BarclaysFooty) September 12, 2014
Costa has certainly had no problem settling into Stamford Bridge -- scoring four times in his first three games for the Blues after moving from Atletico Madrid in a deal reported to be worth 32 million pounds -- and Mourinho stated that he was precisely the type of striker required to complete the side.
"When we bought him we were very optimistic. His profile as a player but also as a person -- easy to adapt. A player is also part of a team, and we knew the team was going in a certain direction and was waiting for a player like him to be there.
"We were very optimistic. His start was good: three matches, three victories and four goals, good performances. So it's a good start."