Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has emphatically ruled out the sale of striker Diego Costa.
Speaking on Tuesday the Italian made it clear that he wants the Spain striker to stay at Stamford Bridge and labelled him a “player with fundamental importance”.
“Diego is our player. He’s a fantastic player for me. He is a player with fundamental importance,” said Conte.
“For me it’s no problem to read there is opportunity to go to another team because Diego will stay with us. He is very happy and working very hard.
“We are Chelsea – one of the biggest clubs in the world for this reason I think Diego Costa must stay in the best team.”
Costa ‘rocked’ Chelsea by ‘demanding’ a return to Atletico Madrid, according to an exclusive in the Daily Star earlier this month.
Costa, whose contract expires in 2019, reportedly told the club he wanted to go with Atletico keen to be reunited with their former frontman. It is understood Atletico were prepared to pay £40million for the 27-year-old, who started Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Rapid Vienna.
Atletico have £32million to spend from the sale of Jackson Martinez and it was believed that Chelsea would be open to offers for Costa, who managed 16 goals from 41 games last season.
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