Diego Costa is the best player in the Premier League and maybe even the world

Diego Costa is one of the most hated men in world soccer. And to be fair, there are plenty of reasons to dislike him.

His style of play is best described as “combative.” The Brazilian-born forward learned his craft on the rough streets of Lagarto, rather than the more traditional route of an elite academy. To Mr. Costa, the rules of the game feel more like loose guidelines.

He will happily bite, scratch, spit and kick his way to winning the ball. He’s had more bans from the game than you’ve had hot meals: He started young, earning a four-month ban in the Brazilian youth system for slapping an opponent across the face. He’s since earned professional bans for headbutts while at Atletico Madrid and for several stamping incidents in the Premier League.

And it’s not just his abrasiveness that rubs people the wrong way. He’s often accused of being a cheat thanks to his penchant for theatrical reactions and there’s even suspicion about the date on his birth certificate.

Also, his name is mud in his country of birth, as he chose to represent the Spanish national team instead of the Selecao. At the 2014 World Cup, he was treated to chants of “Traitor!” by the home fans, while then-Brazil manager Luis Felipe Scolari criticized him for “turning his back on a dream of millions, to represent our national team, the five-time champions in a World Cup in Brazil.”

Essentially, he is a villain that makes Piers Morgan appear universally adored by contrast.

However, what cannot be ignored is the fact that Costa is very good at his job. In fact, he might even be the best.

In November, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte hailed the 28-year-old as “one of the world’s best strikers.” At that point, he had scored 10 league goals and provided four assists from 12 games. He now has 13 goals and five assists from 17 appearances, including several strikes that have put the Blues directly in the points.

Costa is in the richest vein of form since his magnificent season with Atletico Madrid in 2013-14, when he scored 27 goals and was instrumental in leading the Spanish side to the Champions League final and the Liga title. After 17 games in that season, he already had 19 goals.

The aggressive forward is also comparing rather favorably to Chelsea royalty.

Costa has already surpassed the total number of goals he scored last season. In this campaign, he has been involved in more goals than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues.

There can be little doubt Diego Costa is the best player in the Premier League right now – he is far more consistent than Alexis Sanchez, and Sergio Aguero’s recent drop in form and disciplinary issues have lowered his status. No one else really comes close to taking the throne from the reigning Premier League Player of the Month.

So, Costa is almost certainly the best talent in England right now, but there’s also a strong argument to suggest he is the most in-form forward in the entire world.

There are some fine candidates for the world’s best forward elsewhere in Europe. In 2016-17, two players have found the net more often: Edinson Cavani has scored a phenomenal 17 goals for Paris Saint-Germain, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has converted 16 in the league for Borussia Dortmund. But those goal tallies have less meaning as they haven’t been converted into points – PSG sits third in Ligue 1 while BvB are fifth in Germany. As previously mentioned, Costa has been directly responsible for 16 of Chelsea’s 43 points (37 percent) and his team are riding high at the top of the league.

Another manner in which Costa is untouchable is his incredible conversion rate. According to WhoScored.com, the Chelsea star averages 0.8 shots off target per league match. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – who has only scored two fewer goals – averages twice as many shots off target per game (1.6), while Robert Lewandowski averages 1.8 per match. Cristiano Ronaldo is much more wasteful, averaging 2.7 wayward shots on every outing.

This tells us that Costa is incredibly clinical. Quite simply, if the ball is in the opposing team’s 18-yard box, there is no other player in Europe who is more likely to put it in the net.

You may also have noticed in recent matches that Costa is superb at picking out teammates with through-balls. He averages 1.6 key passes per game. That’s better than Luis Suarez (1.3), Gareth Bale (1.5) and RB Leipzig’s breakout star Timo Werner (1.1).

In a week where Ronaldo scored a hat trick in the Club World Cup Final and Lionel Messi displayed some out-of-this-world skills in Barcelona’s victory over Catalan rivals Espanyol, it might be challenging to sell Costa as the world’s best player.

But his finishing is second-to-none, his ability to hold up the ball is vital for Chelsea’s success and his previously perceived weakness in the air has been proven as a complete misnomer.

For this FC Yahoo writer, Diego Costa is the most complete and in-form striker on the planet right now. If the Blues go on to win the league this season – and it currently looks pretty likely – much of the credit will fall on the shoulders of their much-maligned man up top.

Countless Hollywood blockbusters tell us that the world needs a hero. But now and again, we also need a villain.

Follow @RyanJayBailey on Twitter.