However Antonio Conte tried to excuse Diego Costa’s absence from the 3-0 win over Leicester, there’s no way that Chelsea are going to be able to brush this one under the carpet.
News broke via Sky Sports on Friday that the striker had fought with a fitness coach, as well as Conte, in training and had subsequently been removed from the squad.
Chinese Super League club Tianjin Quanjian have put a £30million-a-year offer on the table, so it seemed inevitable that Costa’s head would be turned after that.
All this threatens to have a huge impact on the Blues’ title bid. Admittedly, Marcos Alonso and Pedro made up for his absence against Leicester, but going forward, they could have serious problems up front without their top scorer – especially having alienated back-up Michy Batshuayi.
Understandably, Conte wants this resolved sooner rather than later before it hangs over any more fixtures.
The Italian has got his wish, at least according to the Sun, who report Costa has now made up his mind not to leave in the current transfer window.
Nonetheless, the Spain international is refusing to sign a new deal, even if Chelsea were willing to increase his current wages of £150,000 a week. You can hardly blame him when there’s £30million a year on the table elsewhere.
That means he looks certain to leave in the summer, but by then Conte will at least have had time to find a replacement for the 28-year-old, whose eventual departure has been on the radar for a while now.
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