GOODBYE, MR ANGRY

Bad-boy Costa is finally leaving the Bridge.. but Blues will miss his goals

DIEGO COSTA will go down as one of the Premier League’s biggest characters.

But he will be remembered more for his bad-boy antics off the pitch than his achievements on it.

Costa won two titles in three years at Stamford Bridge and yet the spats, bust-ups, bans, stamps and going AWOL commanded more headlines.

The Spain international was a mercenary passing through, a wind-up merchant a million miles from ever gaining the sort of legendary status afforded Didier Drogba.

You would always want Costa on your side but, as soon as things went wrong, he would become toxic, dangerous and volatile.

The fact he was prepared to try to take on Antonio Conte this summer and bring him down tells you everything you need to know. Chelsea will miss his goals and indeed his influence on the pitch.

He may have been public enemy No.1, comedy villain and the striker everyone loved to hate, but he could be a nightmare to play against.

He scored 52 goals in 89 games but that only tells half the story.

He had an incredible knack of winding up defenders, getting them into trouble and stopping at nothing to make sure his team came out on top. His infamous clash with former Arsenal defender Gabriel, in September 2015, was one of his most notorious bust-ups on the pitch.

Costa got Gabriel sent off after an elaborate wind-up, Chelsea won the game and, even though the FA dished out a retrospective ban, it was too late by then.

The 28-year-old also carries a physical threat that Alvaro Morata (right) – the £67million striker bought to replace him – has yet to show he can match.

Morata was bullied by Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi on Sunday in a way Costa never would have been. He would have been doing the bullying.

But, ultimately, Costa was too much hassle and that is why Chelsea have sold him, after an ugly – and very public – summerlong saga.

Costa and Conte’s relationship was always destined to end in fireworks and it is amazing they had a bust-up in January, when Costa wanted to leave, agreed on an uneasy truce, and somehow got on with it for the rest of the season.

Mirror Sport revealed in July that Costa asked to leave three times last season. Once in the summer of 2016, again in January, and he then made it clear he wanted out in May.

Costa was volatile from day one, loud parties were a regular event at his Surrey mansion and he could not wait to get back to Spain for the weather, lifestyle and Atletico Madrid. Back at the end of the 2015/16 season, a member of the Chelsea hierarchy explained at the training ground how the Brazilborn striker had calmed down. Right on cue, the star came tearing into the car park in a customised white Range Rover, windows open, music blaring out at full volume. There was no way Costa was ever going to calm down.

Chelsea will be relieved he’s finally out of the door, even though it means they’ve lost a two-time title winner. And that says it all.

SHOT HIMSELF IN THE FOOT Costa was often making the headlines for the wrong reasons – such as seeing red in an FA Cup tie with Everton last year (above)