Kieran Trippier has lavished praise on Wolves striker Diego Costa, branding him ‘unbelievable’ in the dressing room and a ‘proper professional’.
The Newcastle United defender appeared on the Under the Cosh podcast ahead of playing for England at the World Cup in Qatar.
Trippier spoke on a number of topics, including his rise from Burnley to being a La Liga champion with Atletico Madrid, working under former managers, and England’s prospects at the World Cup.
At one point, Trippier talks about Costa, who was his teammate at Atleti.
Trippier signed for the Spanish club in 2019, with Costa leaving the Wanda Metropolitano in December 2020.
He said: “Costa was up there. He’s a great guy. He was brilliant.
“There’s loads of times where he would get substituted on and just elbowed someone and got a yellow card, just to let them know he was there.
“He was good around the place, just for the lads, having banter and keeping spirits up when things weren’t going well. He was really good, he was unbelievable.
“Do you know what? People might not realise but he works so hard in training. He was proper professional. But he would just do daft stuff like get a digger or something and fly around the training ground on it.”
Costa signed for Wolves a few months ago, coming in as a free agent.
Wolves turned to him after Sasa Kalajdzic sustained an ACL injury, which will likely rule him out for the whole of 2022/23.
So far, Costa has yet to get off the mark for Wolves, but has picked up one red card against Brentford.
More proof Diego Costa was a great addition for Wolves, he’s just not the player he once was
Trippier’s comments further emphasis what a great character Costa is.
He may not have scored yet, but Wolves still did right moving for him. Especially after losing so many experienced players in the summer.
It is clear he’s a great person to have in the dressing room at the very least.
Wolves just need a bit more from Costa in terms in goal output.
Everyone knows he isn’t the same player as when he was last on English shores.
Hopefully, Julen Lopetegui will be able to get a bit more out of him in terms of goalscoring. At times, the service to him hasn’t been great so that will be part of the challenge for the new head coach.