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What is going on with Diego Costa and Chelsea?
There are a lot of crazy stories flying around about Chelsea striker Diego Costa. As is the law of the land in soccer, rumors are everywhere. It's difficult to suss out exactly what's transpired between the two parties, but here's what we do know: Chelsea aren't saying squat about it.
According to variousreports, Costa has been dropped from the team and didn't travel to the league-leaders' match Saturday against Leicester City. The natural question after that (assuming it's true!) is, of course, why was he dropped? Again, according to reports, Costa and manager Antonio Conte had a confrontation during training.
The striker had been complaining of a back ailment, but Chelsea's medical staff didn't buy it. Conte apparently sided with his staff, leading to an argument between the two noted passionate gentlemen. So, if that's all above board, the player and manager had a spat and the Blues left him in London to cool off.
The story doesn't stop there, though. Finding the juiciest piece of fruit requires some digging, after all. On top of the reports of the Conte/Costa kerfuffle comes an interest in the Brazil-born Spaniard from China. Like so many other big stars, he's had his head turned by the Chinese Super League, reports say.
So, details are murky, at best. What's telling, however, is that Chelsea have remained silent on the entire saga. At this point, Costa could have just picked up a knock and didn't make the trip. That seems highly unlikely given the amount of reports indicating a falling out with Conte, but a slim possibility is still a possibility.
And even if Costa and Conte had a contretemps, does that mean they'd ship him to China? That also seems highly unlikely. He's under contract with the club until 2019, and he's the league's leading goal-scorer this season. He's been indispensable and undroppable for Conte, until now, it seems.
Perhaps it will all blow over, or perhaps it will all blow up. This bit of reported interpersonal drama could be the nudge both parties need to seek a parting of ways. We just really don't know at the moment. But, based on what we do know, this is surely not the way the title-hopefuls intended to return to Premier League action.
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