Diego Costa reveals Chelsea manager has told him to leave

Diego Costa dropped a bombshell on Wednesday night after revealing Antonio Conte messaged him to inform the striker he no longer features in his plans at Chelsea.

The controversial striker tried to force through a return to Atletico Madrid last summer but was convinced to remain at the club by Conte before trying his luck again in the January transfer window with reports of a blockbuster move to China.

However, Chelsea are now expected to re-sign Romelu Lukaku from Everton and Conte has informed Costa he is free to leave the club this summer as he looks to revamp the squad off the back of their second Premier League title in three years.

“Conte has sent me a messing telling me I’m not in his plans,” The Daily Mail quote Costa as saying after Spain’s 2-2 draw with Colombia on Wednesday night.

“It seems I didn’t have a good season. It was just a simple message after all I’ve done for the clubby if he doesn’t want me there then I will have to look for a [new] team.

No [no one else from Chelsea has contacted me], but if the manager gets in contact with you to tell you that you are not wanted then you have to leave.”

Costa previously admitted earlier this summer that he wouldn’t be forced into joining a club from China and that he would only consider re-joining Atletico if he were to leave the Premier League champions.

However, that has since been made more complicated by the fact Diego Simeone’s side have been hit by a transfer ban that means they cannot register players until January.

Atletico could still sign the 28-year-old this summer but he wouldn’t be able to feature for them until 2018 and Costa has admitted that would be difficult for him to accept with one eye on making the Spain squad for the 2018 World Cup.

“To go to Atleti would be nice but I have to think about it,” Costa continued. “This is a World Cup year and I cannot be not playing for three or four months.”

It leaves Costa’s future up in the air but his shock admission will only reduce Chelsea’s bargaining power as they look to move to controversial striker on from the squad after three years at the club.

Since joining Chelsea from Atletico in the summer of 2014, only Harry Kane (75), Sergio Aguero (70), Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku (both 53) have scored more goals in the Premier League than Costa (52).

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