Mario Lemina: Diego Costa deserves new Wolves deal
Mario Lemina has called for Wolves to tie Diego Costa down to a new contract as he hailed the veteran striker’s impact on the squad.
Costa netted his first goal for the club on Saturday as Wolves beat Brentford 2-0, capping a dominant performance from the 34-year-old.
The striker is out of contract in the summer, after signing a one-year deal as a free agent in September, and midfielder Lemina wants Costa to stay.
When asked how much he wants Costa to remain at Wolves, Lemina said: “I’ve just come in January and for me he’s a key player. I’m not a director, president or coach but he’s a massive, massive player for us.”
Lemina added: “He’s a really hard worker. He gives us his experience every time on the pitch and speaks to us a lot.
“When you see the commitment he plays with he deserves this.
“We all know what he does in football. I think defenders, the opponent are scared of him.
“He’s a big character and they know what he has done already.
“It is really important for us to feel there is a striker who makes the defence feel under pressure.
“He helps us a lot. He’s a funny character, a big joker. But at the same time a hard worker.
“He could just be the old man – but he is not. He’s working really hard and putting all players under pressure all the time in training.”
Although Costa’s impact on the field has been limited, he has brought an energy and experience to the dressing room.
When asked if Costa is doing any training ground pranks, Lemina said: “He’s doing everything! Everything he thinks, he does! He doesn’t care.
“He doesn’t care if it will hurt anyone, just does it. We just try and stay away from him!
“He has done lots of things. He puts ice baths over you and various crazy things.
“My jacket, he put shampoo on it, but I’m OK, it was just funny.
“He’s a really hard worker and a good guy.”
Alongside the rest of his team-mates, Lemina put in a stellar performance at Molineux as Wolves took another step towards securing safety.
And the midfielder believes they were good value for the three points.
He added: “It feels really great, I enjoyed the game, we put them under pressure the whole time and we tried to finish the action we had.
“That’s the key. We don’t lose the ball in the middle or get counter attacked and everything changes.
“They were feeling the pressure we put on them and I think we deserved the game.
“There is no timing to score, we just needed to take the moments, everything went well for us. In all parts of the game, we deserved to win.”
