Thursday’s edition of Marca has a piece on Roman Abramovich’s attitude toward the Diego Costa situation, and how the Chelsea owner won’t be a problem for Antono Conte.
Conte, according to the Spanish newspaper, has taken a break from his vacations to hold a transfer meeting with Abramovich. Rather than it being a tense affair, with Costa’s public words about a message from Conte potentially devaluing the player, Abramovich instead informed his manager that he’s 100% behind whatever he chooses to do.
Costa’s words ‘haven’t gone down well at Stamford Bridge’ because it’s hit the player’s value in the transfer market. Chelsea haven’t made everything negative about Costa public over the past year, so the player speaking out isn’t considered a fair step.
Chelsea won’t give Costa away for a fee too low, but are ready to negotiate, with Atletico Madrid or anyone else, and come to an agreement as soon as possible.
If Costa thought he could talk down his Chelsea transfer fee, and potentially also get Conte in trouble, it seems he was mistaken.