Chelsea news: Antonio Conte made a huge mistake in Diego Costa saga - Balague

ANTONIO CONTE made a huge mistake in the Diego Costa saga, according to Guillem Balague.

Diego CostaREUTERS

Diego Costa has agreed to join Atletico Madrid in January

Chelsea have agreed to sell Costa to Atletico Madrid for £57m after he went AWOL this summer.

Conte text Costa to tell him he could find a new club at the beginning of the summer and Balague believes that gave Chelsea little leverage when negotiating his sale.

Costa scored 20 goals to help Chelsea win the title last season but has been replaced by Alvaro Morata, who already has six in six.

But Balague thinks Conte could have got more money for Costa had he not shown his hand so early.

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.

Diego Costa poses for photos after receiving a Flamengo shirt

"But Chelsea more or less got what they wanted for him, once Conte decided he didn't want to keep."

Costa refused to return to London after calls to train with the reserves in Cobham.

He claimed to have been treated like a criminal by the club, a suggestion that was laughed off by Conte in a bizarre press conference earlier this season.

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