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Chelsea: Yet another reminder that Diego Costa wanted to leave

By Travis Tyler

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Antonio Conte, Manager of Chelsea gives his team instructions during The Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Southampton at Wembley Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 22: Antonio Conte, Manager of Chelsea gives his team instructions during The Emirates FA Cup Semi Final match between Chelsea and Southampton at Wembley Stadium on April 22, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) /
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Diego Costa’s World Cup exploits have rightly been praised. Antonio Conte is once more being blamed for Costa leaving Chelsea. Reminder: Costa wanted out.

Terrible sources want to keep making Diego Costa and Antonio Conte a thing. The latest go to is that Chelsea want to sack Conte (not new information) but want to pay him less severance because of how he handled the Costa situation.

Of course, that is not how severances work but it certainly will not stop the rumor from spreading. Just as it did not stop the initial media storm around the dreaded “text”.

Costa’s World Cup performances has only added further fuel to the fire. After a good start at Atletico Madrid, he tapered off and most fans stopped saying how terrible it was Conte forced Costa out. But the World Cup has given that notion a new platform to build on. And like with most things Costa these days, it blatantly ignores what actually happened.

Costa wanted to leave Chelsea. Full stop. He admitted he wanted to leave the summer Conte came to the club. They were able to create a working relationship together despite this. Then, the China transfer rumors sparked up and Costa and Conte had a bust up. Again, they were able to continue working together.

Then came the summer where Conte merely told Costa what they both already knew; Costa was not in Conte’s plans because he had repeatedly tried to leave and was finally being given the moment to do so. Costa, shamefully, decided to turn this into a media fire storm. See, Costa was the victim in all this right? He had wanted to leave, but Conte was the true villain for telling him “ok”.

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Set aside that the board still had to allow Costa to go and held out for a higher price (leaving Costa in limbo for six months). Set aside the supposed loss in negotiating power on Chelsea’s end. Costa wanted to leave. No amount of goals he scores elsewhere is ever going to change that. He wanted out; the club let him go when they got a fair price. Conte had nothing to do with it other than confirming it to the world.

That is one of the many reasons why this entire saga and narrative about Costa is on crumbling ground. The idea that the board is going to somehow pay Conte less for confirming the truth is laughable. The idea that Conte or the board are to blame for selling Costa is also laughable. He did not want to be at Chelsea, so why do so many mourn his departure?

Yes, he was a fantastic player and added steel to the Blues that was lost this past season. Alvaro Morata started hot (coincidentally, there were few wishing Costa would play at this point) but fell off afterwards. Giroud did well, but Chelsea have still yet to truly replace what was lost when Costa left.

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But that does not matter. Costa wanted out. No matter how much the media or some want to place the blame on others, it all falls on Costa. If a player does not want to play for Chelsea, they should not. Everything else is merely a footnote.

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