Antonio Conte insisted said that Diego Costa’s Chelsea future was settled until the end of the season after the controversial striker scored on his return to the first team against Hull City. Costa scored just before half-time in a game that Chelsea won 2-0, putting them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League with just 16 games left this season.
Costa had been dropped for last Saturday’s trip to Leicester City after having his head turned by a £30million salary offer from Tianjin Quanjian. Chelsea always insisted that Costa was not for sale and Conte said that his goal-scoring return to the team meant that he was going nowhere this January. But when Conte was asked whether Costa would sign a new deal to secure his future beyond this season, he could offer no assurances.
“It is important Diego played a good game, and I hope with this game to finish the speculation about him, about me and him, and about Chelsea,” Conte said. “I think we showed that we are a team with a great unity, and I think this is the real value that helps us stay top of the table.”
Costa’s Chelsea contract lasts until June 2019 meaning that the club will have to either sell him or offer him a new deal this summer, when he will have two years left. It is no secret that Costa wanted to go back to Atletico Madrid last summer, or that he wanted to go to China earlier this month. While a new deal would secure Costa’s future, Conte could not promise that he would sign one, and said he would not try to “see too far into the future”.
“Diego has two years of contract, before his contract expires with Chelsea,” he said. “I think his contract puts to an end all the speculation. I repeat: he's very happy to stay with us and to play with Chelsea. For us, now, it's very important for us to concentrate on the present and not try and see too far into the future. That will risk us not seeing the present.”
Conte admitted that any decisions on Costa’s future would be taken by the club’s board and would not just be down to him. “A new contract? I don't know,” Conte said. “This decision is something you have to take together with the club. But, I repeat, I don't see any problem with Diego and his contract.”
Conte said that his Chelsea team were not at their best against Hull but was pleased with the professionalism they showed. “For sure this game wasn't our best game,” he said. “But I think it's normal, because we are in the second part of the season, and the points now are heavy for us but also for the other teams. Today the points were very heavy for Hull City because they are in the relegation zone. We faced a really good team in good form and with good organisation.”