Spanish football pundit Guillem Balague says Chelsea manager Antonio Conte made a mistake in the Diego Costa affair.
His compliant stems from when Conte sent Costa a message saying that he should leave Stamford Bridge at the start of the summer and that the striker was not in his plans.
The Blues finally agreed a deal with Atletico Madrid last week, with Costa to move for a fee of around £55 million, but Balague says Conte’s role in the saga – specifically the text message, has damaged the club.
He told Sky Sports: “It was a huge mistake on Antonio Conte’s part to send a text to Costa saying he was not wanted, because he weakened the position of Chelsea.
“Chelsea wanted 70m euros, Atletico says, they got 55m plus 10m. It is still a big fee, one Atletico has never paid.
“But he shouldn’t have sent it. I’m pretty sure if you’re a director at Chelsea you’d wish he hadn’t too.
“It gave the wishes of Costa a big push, because he could always say: ‘look, they don’t want me’.
“That’s why he felt he didn’t need to go back to train or play with the reserves, or anything like that. It played completely into his hands.
“But Chelsea more or less got what they wanted for him, once Conte decided he didn’t want to keep.”
If you missed the goals from the Chelsea v Stoke clash or wish to relive them, you can check them out here:
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