Diogo Costa scored three times in the penalty shoot-out against Slovenia at the European Championships to help Portugal reach the quarter-finals. How strong is the young keeper in EA SPORTS FC 24?
The Portuguese team led by superstar Cristiano Ronaldo had a shaky start to their European Championship round of 16 tie against Slovenia. The favorites only prevailed in a penalty shoot-out – and his colleagues had goalkeeper Diogo Costa to thank. The FC Porto goalkeeper saved all three of Slovenia’s attempts, which meant that Portugal only needed three goals of their own. A performance that is likely to attract lasting attention from managers of big clubs – including in EA SPORTS FC 24?
It’s no secret that Costa is one of the best keepers of his generation – the Swiss native is only 24 years old. He has been a mainstay at Porto for three seasons now and already stood between the posts for the Portuguese national team at the 2022 World Cup. EA SPORTS predicts a great future for the goalkeeper: his potential in FC 24’s career mode is a strong 89 points. Only four keepers have one point more in this regard – but none of them make a similar leap.
Large release clause, low salary
Costa has a decent overall rating of 83 right from the start, but has some room for improvement in virtual terms. His strongest individual score is reflexes (86) – positional play and piking (82 each) are also good. If you want to identify a weak point, then it’s probably his catching accuracy (77), which should increase by several points over the course of his FC 24 career.
Costa’s enormous potential comes at a price: the digital release clause is 102.3 million euros. However, with a little negotiating skill, the goalkeeper could be available for a sum in the mid to upper double-digit range. Anyone managing a financially strong club in FC 24’s career mode should keep an eye on Costa – he could solve any problems in goal for many years to come. One plus point is his salary, which amounts to just €14,000 per week at the start of his virtual career.
Almost unique career option in FC 24
For FC 25, further basic upgrades towards the 85 mark can be expected – especially if Costa takes the plunge and moves to a top European club in the summer. The combination of his young age by goalkeeper standards, his strong overall rating right from the start and his outstanding potential make the goalkeeper an almost unique option in career mode
In FUT, Costa has a gold card with an overall rating of 82, which also shows that EA SPORTS has already increased his overall rating in the career mode of FC 24. The Porto keeper’s only other item is an item from TOTW 18, which was upgraded to 85 points. His club makes it more difficult to optimize chemistry in strong FUT teams, but his Portuguese nationality can be an advantage when playing with top cards such as Ruben Dias (97), Cristiano Ronaldo (96) or Vitinha (96).
