Diego Costa granted extra time off

Chelsea’s Spanish international to skip preseason training with speculations mounting

: Diego Costa has been permitted by Premier League champions Chelsea to miss the start of pre-season training on Monday, fuelling speculation he is set to rejoin Atletico Madrid.

The 28-year-old Brazil-born Spanish international is still keen on a return to Atletico despite them not being allowed to field new players until January because of a transfer ban.

“Another absentee (new signing Antonio Rudiger was also absent) was Diego Costa, after it was agreed with the club that he should have an extra few days off,” read a statement on the club website.

Costa enjoyed a fractious relationship with Chelsea manager Antonio Conte last season despite scoring 20 goals in 35 league appearances in Chelsea’s titlewinning campaign. The player revealed last month the Italian had texted him to say he was no longer part of his plans.

However, Conte’s aim of replacing Costa with Romelu Lukaku went badly astray when the Belgian international jilted Chelsea’s advances for Manchester United’s, despite both clubs offering the same transfer fee of £75million. Costa – whose contract runs till 2019 – caught the eye in his four-year spell at Atletico before joining Chelsea for £32 million in 2014.Last month Atletico lost an appeal against a FIFA-imposed sanction which means that, while they can still buy players this summer, they will not be able to register or play them until January.The Premier League champions have, however, strengthened their defensive options by completing the signing of Antonio Rudiger on a five-year contract from Roma.

The Guardian newspaper reported that the Germany defender was joining the Premier League champions for an initial £29 million,which could rise as high as £34 million with add-ons for a player who has won 17 caps for Germany and made four appearances in their Confederations Cup campaign in Russia, including in the final against Chile, which they won 1-0.