Chelsea drop Costa amid rift, unsettling Chinese interest
LONDON (AP):
DIEGO COSTA’S Chelsea career could be coming to a fiery, abrupt end in a setback to the English Premier League leaders’ pursuit of the title.
The league top-scorer has not travelled with Chelsea to Leicester following a dispute with the coaching staff and won’t be playing in today’s game against the champions, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity yesterday because they were not authorised to discuss Costa being dropped from the team.
The discord between Antonio Conte’s side and Costa follows the striker becoming aware of interest from China, the person said, referencing the country’s wealthy and ambitious Super League. The Daily Mail newspaper’s website first reported yesterday that the dispute was over whether Costa was injured.
INFLUENTIAL PLAYER
The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported online that Costa is aware of a Chinese club willing to pay him more than $30 million a year, but Chelsea is determined to hold on to its most influential player. The Spain international, who joined Chelsea from Atlético Madrid in 2014, has 14 goals in the league this season and is under contract until 2019.
Costa has been a vital component in Chelsea’s revival after the team went from champions to an 11th-place finish last season.
Chelsea have a five-point lead over Liverpool after their 13-match winning streak was ended by Tottenham in the team’s last league game.
Chelsea have already sold two players – John Obi Mikel and Oscar – to Chinese Super League clubs in the last month. Chelsea made £60 million ($73 million) just from Shanghai SIPG for Oscar. Despite the windfall, Conte said that he hoped the club would not lose any more players to Chinese clubs, which spent more than $600 million on foreign players in 2016.
“The Chinese market is a danger for all,” Conte said last month, “not only for Chelsea, but all the teams in the world.”