If Chelsea FC let go of Antonio Conte this summer, it will be the most unbelievably self-destructive and asinine thing that the club has done during our lifetime.
Chelsea FC have good reason to be upset with Antonio Conte over his handling of the Diego Costa situation. Sending a star player a text message to tell him about his future and livelihood is not the most mature or necessarily professional thing to do.
However, is there no case to be made for Costa’s immaturity either? This is Diego Costa we are talking about. The 20 pounds overweight to pre-season, half-time media snack room eating, constant Madrid moaning Costa. He took a screenshot of Conte’s text message and sent it to his teammates and the media as opposed to saying “Hey, Mr. Conte, why? I feel like I’ve had a good season?”
Neither man comes off great here. In that way they break even. But if Chelsea must pick one, then they absolutely must pick Antonio Conte.
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If Chelsea find some absurd reason to choose a striker who has no interest in maintaining basic public loyalty to the club over the manager who has saved them, it will be the worst example of player power ever. It will show that Chelsea and the club hierarchy learned exactly nothing from last season. Player power peaked last season, and the players were able to push out the rapidly deteriorating Jose Mourinho.
In some ways it is a good thing that this affair has become public. Diego Costa has shown his true colors. Chelsea now need to show their players and the rest of the world a simple message: Chelsea do not tolerate such behavior.
So you scored 20 goals but acted like a selfish, self-centered, childish buffoon the whole time? Not good enough. For £185,000 a week – almost 4 times the YEARLY salary of a London worker – a tad bit of professionalism is not too much to ask.
Diego Costa – for all his entertaining Lucozade-driven antics and wonderful terrorizing of defenses – simply should not be with the team. He costs the team just as much negatively in a psychological sense as he benefits it in the physical sense. Antonio Conte has proven exactly how good a coach he is by recognizing this.
All parties involved made mistakes. Clubs probably will not pay much more than the 35 million quid Chelsea paid for Costa, knowing he is on the gangplank. But would they ever?
The amount Chelsea paid Atletico for him is public knowledge. Costa is 28 with a history of attitude and physical issues. If you think Chelsea were going to make an absurd profit on him you are – perhaps, maybe, kindly and no judgements had by the way – on a ton of absurd psychedelic drugs.
Chelsea will make up whatever money they lose on Deigo Costa by bolstering Antonio Conte’s leadership. Conte is showing he has a spine. Other members of the Chelsea FC management team should do the same. Chelsea should build off the Italian’s example and not throw it away.
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Character is the most valuable thing in football. Chelsea have for too long undervalued it, and the 2015/16 season was the culmination of that trend. Chelsea are running awfully close to throwing away the efforts and genius of a man who sweats character. And for what? A man with none of it.