The Roman Empire will still be here long after Conte has hit the road

ROMAN ABRAMOVICH appears to enjoy a chuckle as much as the next oligarch – but it is unlikely he finds the Diego Costa scenario anywhere near as amusing as Antonio Conte does.

It is unlikely he finds it funny at all. If nothing else, one of his assets is getting devalued by every idle day in Brazil.

Costa might be repaying wages in fines but the unbridgeable rift between player and manager means Chelsea will not get top dollar if, indeed, they can actually shift the striker.

Abramovich might also want, if he has not already had it, clarification as to how this embarrassing impasse has come about.

Ex-players have been forming an orderly queue to lay into Costa over the past few days, the common theme being how he is a disgrace to his profession. Fair enough but whatever the underlying reasons, and Conte said on Friday that everyone at Chelsea knows the score, there has been a failure of management somewhere along the line.

If Conte knew Costa would not be part of his plans as long ago as January, he and the club should have been better prepared than to have Michy Batshuayi leading the line against Burnley while Diego lounged around at home.

He could have started Alvaro Morata, of course, but deemed him not fit enough, a view the £60million signing made a bit of a mockery of when he came on for the last half-hour.

That cannot have pleased Roman too much either.

You get the feeling few things pass Abramovich by and Conte’s comments on Friday will not have gone unscrutinised.

In particular, his observations that Chelsea do not have the same ‘bases’ as Spurs.

“Mauricio Pochettino is doing a great job,” said Conte. “He has built a great base and foundation for his club. We must do the same...”

Abramovich might argue that a billion pounds’ worth of investment is a great base. That five Premier League titles, four FA Cups and a Champions League in 13 seasons is a great base.

He might argue that his way rather than the Tottenham way admired by Conte is the one more likely to bring success.

For Conte, though, the impression he has given since arriving and producing such a stellar season has been of a coach who wants complete control – the sort of control it took the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger a decade to command.

It does not work like that at most modern-day football clubs. Certainly not at Chelsea. Conte is the 14th managerial appointment in the 14 years since Abramovich bought the club.

Only one character will have control at Chelsea.

It is all well and good talking about great bases but Conte’s job, any Chelsea manager’s job, is to coach and get the best out of the first team in the here and now.

He did that brilliantly last season. He might yet do it again in a Chelsea season that is only one freakish game old.

But while there were times during that magnificent title-winning campaign when you thought he might actually be the one – the one who defies Roman history and forms a long and lasting relationship with Abramovich – this troubled summer has changed that.

If Conte believes he is or will be the man in control of Chelsea’s future, he is mistaken.