Chelsea will reportedly have to accept a £10m loss on Diego Costa after he publicly revealed that Antonio Conte doesn’t want him at the club.
The shock revelation came this week while he was on international duty, as he told Spanish media that Conte had text him to inform him that he was no longer wanted at Stamford Bridge.
While the Italian tactician will undoubtedly have his reasons, namely that Costa has been consistently linked with wanting to leave, The Sun report that it may hurt Chelsea financially with the club now expected to be forced to take a £10m hit on their talismanic striker as they will fall way short of recouping the £32m spent to sign the former Atletico Madrid striker.
Initial problems seemingly surfaced in January amid talk of a move to China, with Costa dropped for the trip to Leicester City after rumours of a training ground bust-up.
It will come as a major surprise to most even though there have been issues between Conte and Costa, as after the 28-year-old scored 22 goals last season to help the Blues win the Premier League title, it seemed likely they would continue together to bring more success to the club.
However, it doesn’t look as though that will be happening with Atleti, Manchester United, Arsenal and AC Milan all touted as possible destinations, while Chelsea continue to be linked with a swoop for Romelu Lukaku who is valued at £100m, as per the Sun.
Costa still has two years remaining on his £180,000-a-week contract and in turn could be due a loyalty bonus of sort, and this situation could turn out to be really messy for Chelsea as although Conte’s stance and desire to take charge of the situation is commendable, it may prove to be costly to the club in the end.