Diego a lost Cost?
Conte has no clue if Spaniard will remain at Stamford Bridge
LONDON: Antonio Conte admitted for the first time he “doesn’t know” if Diego Costa will be a Chelsea player next season.
The Spanish striker sat out his second game in a row as the Blues lost 3-2 to Real Madrid in Detroit on Saturday amid interest from Atletico Madrid.
It is now looking increasingly likely that Chelsea will go all out to land Everton Romelu Lukaku – especially after Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane also ruled out striker Alvaro Morata moving to West London this summer.
Costa – who missed the game officially because of a “back injury” – looks on his way out after Conte could not confirm whether he will be a Chelsea player this season, despite Atletico landing Sevilla striker Kevin Gameiro yesterday.
Conte said: “I can say that today Costa is a Chelsea player. He didn’t play in these games because of injury and if he solves the injury and I see in training he’s in good shape it can be possible to see him in the next game against Milan. But I can tell only this.
“I speak for today and today Costa is Chelsea’s player. Tomorrow if you ask me if Costa will remain with us, I don’t know.”
Conte – who was visibly not happy with Chelsea’s performance – also refused to comment whether or not he was going to sign Lukaku.
But the fact he did not rule out making a move suggests that negotiations between the clubs are clearly at an advanced stage.
Conte said: “I don’t want to speak about players of other teams. This is not respect for the club or for my players. I prefer not to speak.”
Zidane was asked if he could confirm whether there was any chance of Morata moving to Chelsea this summer.
And he was emphatic by saying: “Morata is a Real Madrid player. We’re delighted to have him back at his home and he will remain a Real Madrid player.”
Chelsea were below par and could easily have been 5-0 down at the break – rather than 3-0 after a brace of goals from Marcello and a third from Mariano Diaz’s 27m strike.
Hazard, though, was the big plus for Chelsea.
The Belgian ace scored two nice goals to cap a lively performance in his first pre-season runout.
And Conte says he may be playing Hazard as a deep-lying striker this season to solve Chelsea’s problems up front.
He said: “Eden played 26 minutes and he’s recovering the good shape.
“I liked him in this position as a forward. It can be a good solution for us. Also a winger. But also to play like a second forward.
“He must improve his shape but he’s working and he knows his shape can improve a lot, like the others.”
Conte warned that players will have to work harder if they are to avoid another terrible season.
Asked about how he was getting on in the transfer market, he said: “The transfer market is not the most important thing. The important thing is to build and be a team, always. In bad and good situations.
“It’s important to concentrate and work together without the ball. I know it’s tiring without the ball but important to stay together and stay compact like we did against Liverpool.
“If we think one two three players don’t want to work without the ball it’s possible we will see another bad season.”