Wow. Does anyone know if this is true? That would be a total disgrace. Why would he represent Spain over his home country? Is he chasing glory? It's not like Brasil is crap, they are great and could use a class striker like Costa. I would choose him over the likes of Fred and Jo any day.

These are not rumors. Its already confirmed. He won't play in these set of qualifiers because the paperwork is not done. But will be eligible going forward.

How is it a disgrace? He was available to play for Brazil all these years yet Fred and Jo were picked ahead of him. He has not been given a single competitive cap for Brazil despite playing so well for so long and being 25. So he went for Spain where the manager and openly admitted his appreciation and he has a good chance of getting in since Spain doesn't have a lot of good strikers.

Well that's interesting. Spain already has many great strikers, while Brazil only 2 good strikers who are not very consistent. So Brazil needs him much much more, and btw he did play for Brazil in 2 games in 2013, one of them was against Italy. So I wonder why he wants to play for Spain now.

Spain has too many great strikers , so it will be a hard choice to choose for the Del Bosque.

@Fred

Spain actually have better strikers than Brazil.

Brazil - Fred, Jo, Pato

Spain - Soldado, Torres, Negredo

I'd pick the Spanish trio any day.

Its not always about the better players, its who the coach plays. Torres is in horrible form since long so I don't think he is going to play in the WC. Negredo and Soldado combined have less caps than Fred. Del Bosque doesn't like playing them a lot for some reason. So from Costa's point of view, Spain is a better alternative.

@Fred

To be Brasilian in the world of football is something that is not taken lightly. The passion and pride for your country is a lot greater for many Brasilians, especially in international football games. So for me, yes it is a disgrace. He has been overshadowed by Falcao which is why I think he was never called up. You don't switch the country you play for just because you aren't good enough to get called up. But unless he has personal problems with his coach, if he continues his current form he would be called up in no time.

Sigh.

Deco :). Agree with Fred, why should he refuse to play for Spain while Brazil ( his country) never shown any interests...
We could debate if he had to choose between Brazil and Spain, but Brazil never called him...
If you have 2 nationalities, you have the right to choose until 21Yo, Brazil should have talked to him. There is no disgrace imo.