Diego Costa is not keeping quiet about that message from Antoino Conte.
Last week Costa, 28, revealed that Chelsea’s manager sent him a message while he was away on international duty to let him know he was no longer in his plans.
Chelsea’s top goalscorer for the 2016-17 season seemed to have a strained relationship with Conte throughout the Blues’ title-winning campaign, and speaking to the media following Spain’s 2-1 win in Macedonia (where he scored) the Brazilian born forward gave an update on his situation and where he’d like to move.
“I have a contract with Chelsea, they have to know what to do with me and I have to wait and know the decision that my club takes. I have a contract of two years with Chelsea, they have to decide. If they sell me, I will look for the best choice,” Costa said. “Atletico [Madrid] is among them, it would not mean not playing, they can loan me out to some team in Spain, Brazil or wherever, but I have to play.
“Everyone knows that I have a lot of affection for them. Of course I rule out China, I have to think about the World Cup. Atletico is a club that I have a lot of affection for, independently of whether I go there or not, I will continue to love them.”
So, Atletico Madrid is the frontrunner to re-sign Costa after he left them for Chelsea in 2014, and the Spanish international doesn’t seem too worried about Atleti’s transfer ban which means he would not be able to play for them until January if he signed this summer. It has also been reported that his representatives have met with AC Milan to see if a move to Serie A would be possible this summer.
As for his relationship with Conte, well, plenty more seems to be coming out following the Italian coach brutally casting aside Chelsea’s leading goalscorer in each of the three seasons he’s been at the club.
After a midseason fallout over a proposed move to China — Costa missed a victory at Leicester City in January due to a “back problem” before being reinstated to the team — Conte has decided that enough is enough and the eccentric, and often fractious, Costa must move on.
For Costa, he didn’t mince his words when asked about Conte’s decision to let him know via a text that his future did not belong at Chelsea.
“In life there are good and bad people. I’ll stay with the good of everything. You have to ask him, not me. It’s an opinion of the coach, if he has the option of putting another in. But there are things and ways of doing things and saying them,” Costa said. “But well, thanks to God I do not lack teams. The most important thing is that my team-mates want me. We know what there is there, who is good and bad. I get on very well with everyone and that speaks for itself.”
