Alex da Costa Born in Brazil in 1982, the burly central defender began his professional career in his native land at Santos – the club made famous worldwide by the iconic Pele. Making his first team début in 2002, he formed apart of the famous quartet of future Brazilian stars along with Diego (now with Juventus), Elano (Galatasaray) and Robinho (Manchester City). His impressive form for Santos caught the eye of Chelsea scouts and the young defender was signed by the London team in 2004, but problems in acquiring a work permit resulted in Alex being loaned out to Holland’s PSV Eindhoven for a period of 3 years. At his first season at PSV, Alex helped the Dutch giants win the domestic double of the Dutch Eredivisie title and the Dutch Cup, as well as turning in impressive performances in the UEFA Champions League, which saw them reach the semi-finals. However they were eliminated by eventual runners-up AC Milan, then coached by Carlo Ancelotti. During his time at PSV, Alex earned the nickname ‘The Tank’ because of his impressive build and ability to hit powerful freekicks. Further domestic success followed in 2005-06 and 06-07 with two more Eredivisie winners medals added to the Brazilian’s kitty. Alex also played apart in eliminating Arsenal from the latter season’s Champions League with a headed goal, ensuring cult status among Chelsea fans even before formally finalising his move to London after being granted a work permit on August 2nd, 2007. Alex signed a 3 year contract with the deposed Premier League champions, and was handed the no. 33 shirt. He made his début for the Blues as a substitute for Florent Malouda in a 1-1 draw with Liverpool. A goal on his full début in the form of a stunning long range freekick against Middlesbrough demonstrated his immense ability and he was soon made first choice. All in all he made 39 appearances in the season, scoring 3 goals including one in the epic 4-4 draw against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge. Frequent injury upsets to Ricardo Carvalho meant that Alex was handed a more prominent role in the team, regularly starting alongside John Terry as Luiz Felipe Scolari began his eventually ill-fated reign at Chelsea. Alex created a piece of history forhimself by scoring Chelsea’s 1000th Premier League goal, against Sunderland at Stamford Bridge in a 5-0 rout. Following a poor string of results in mid-season, Scolari was dismissed and Guus Hiddink, Alex’s manager at PSV and the reigning Russia manager was brought in as the caretaker boss. Alex started every game under Hiddink as the Blues sought to salvage their season. He scored a belter of a freekick against Liverpool in the quarterfinal 2nd leg of the Champions League, a game which ended 4-4, but which saw the Blues through to the next round with an aggregate score of 7-5. The season ended with Chelsea winning the FA Cup, thereby giving Alex his first taste of success in England. A hernia injury in pre-season meant that Alex would not be able to take part in Chelsea’s early season dominance as Carlo Ancelotti became the latest manager to be hired to take the team further. This however would not stop the club from retaining his services, the Brazilian signing a new four year contract with the club in October 2009. Putting his injury problems behind him, Alex started making intermittent appearances by the end of that month, but had to wait till December to make his first Premier League start of the season, where he set up Nicolas Anelka for the opening goal in a 2-1 win over Portsmouth. It was only in March 2010 however, that Alex started playing regularly, partly due to Ricardo Carvalho’s injury struggles. His form from then on remained top-notch as Chelsea went on to reclaim the Premier League crown they had last won in 2006. Another FA Cup win in May meant that Alex had played an important role in the club’s first ever domestic double. With Ricardo Carvalho now gone, Alex has big shoes to fill in the centre of Chelsea’s defence alongside club captain John Terry. If you could count on him for one thing though, it would be his committed, all action, no-nonsense performances, something the Chelsea faithful hope will help the team in reaching even greater heights.
