Diego Costa’s reported bust-up with Chelsea last month was a result of the reaction to a £90m bid made by Tianjin Quanjian for his services.
According to SFR Sport, as per The Daily Mail, the Chinese Super League outfit, managed by Italian legend Fabio Cannavaro, made the bid in January and offered Costa a salary of £85m over three years.
However, the move didn’t go anywhere as Chelsea rejected the big-money offer as the Spaniard forms a crucial part of their plans to win the Premier League title this season.
Nevertheless, it’s claimed that Costa was interested in the move which ultimately led to the alleged fall-out within the club and resulted in him being dropped for their trip to Leicester City.
The talismanic forward has since returned to the line-up and has continued to play his part in helping Chelsea edge closer to winning the title, but it may well have caused a rift of some sort that could be exploited again in the summer.
Costa has scored 16 goals in 24 Premier League appearances so far this season, and that alone tells you all you need to know about how important the former Atletico Madrid man is to Conte.
While the summer transfer market will give them an opportunity to bring in a replacement if needs be, selling Costa in January would have been a fatal mistake in terms of their title hopes and having now settled the situation and got him back on board, it looks as though it will be the best decision for all concerned before the matter is possibly resolved in the summer.