Diego Costa’s Chelsea future is in doubt after the striker was sensationally dropped from the team to face Leicester City.
Express Sport claims the Spanish ace, with fourteen Premier League goals for the table-toppers this season, has had a serious disagreement with his manager Antonio Conte over his fitness.
Costa believes he is suffering from a lower back problem, but members of Chelsea’s backroom team are less than convinced.
Italian Conte has taken the side of his staff, and according to Sky Italia, the Conte reportedly shouted at the Spaniard ‘go to China’ in reference to the big-money offer on the table from the Chinese Super League.
Chelsea have recently lost two stars to the Far East – with Oscar completing a huge £60million move to Shanghai SIPG and John Obi-Mikel also departing.
Another Spanish forward, Fernando Llorente, could be targeted by Conte as a potential replacement, but there are fears that Llorente may not be a big enough name for the Blues faithful.
Michy Batshuayi has struggled since his summer arrival from Marseille, while a more convenient option for Chelsea could be deploying Eden Hazard in a more advanced role, as they did while Costa was suspended.
Chelsea could even look to some of their stars currently out on loan, including Loic Remy, Patrick Bamford and Tammy Abraham.
By Steve Osborne @BlizzardSteve75
