Antonio Conte laughed his way through questions about Neymar and Eden Hazard. His tone changed when Diego Costa’s lawyer came up, as Chelsea’s head of communications took over the proceedings for a spell.
Antonio Conte had a lively press conference fitness check, speaking ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield. With Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho weighing in on the Neymar transfer earlier this week, Conte had to expect a question on the subject.
“It is a difficult topic,” Conte said while laughing. Without passing judgment he recognized that a “normal” player now runs £40-50 million, and that top players nearly require fees that would have been world records only a few years ago.
He stressed that Chelsea do not need a star player, but need several players to improve and build the squad. Conte repeated that Chelsea are lacking “in a numerical aspect,” more than individual player quality or star power.
"It’s important for me that the club knows my opinions about the number we need. I think it’s not right to tell this through the press. Because if I tell one, two, three, four players, things can change. The most important thing is the club knows my opinions and they are trying to do their best for our team, our squad. Now we have to wait and just have the patience to then improve the team. – Chelsea FC"
Conte also laughed off the suggestion that Chelsea would entertain an offer from Barcelona for Eden Hazard.
Conte laughs at question about Barca being interested in Eden Hazard: "We are trying to buy players, not sell them." #CFC 😂😂
— The Pride of London (@PrideOLondon) August 4, 2017
The jokes stopped soon after, though. Conte went stone-faced when a reporter asked him about the comments from Diego Costa’s lawyer, Ricardo Cardoso. Conte carefully stated that the lawyer’s perspective on the events was inaccurate, and that “for me all things are in the past.”
Chelsea’s head of communication Steve Atkins – the man who normally sits to Conte’s left, helps with translation and rarely says more than “one more question” – then interjected with a lengthy, end-of-discussion statement. Atkins strongly disputed Cardoso’s interpretation of the situation. He reiterated that all parties involved knew back in January that Chelsea would seek to transfer Costa over the summer.
Moving the timeline back to January undercuts Cardoso’s claim that Conte’s text message caused an irreparable breach between Chelsea and Diego Costa. If Chelsea FC can prove that Diego Costa knew in January that he had no future at the club beyond May 2017, Costa loses much of the basis for his threatened legal action. That proof would also shift responsibility to Costa and his representatives for not starting the transfer process in January instead of June.
Next: Chelsea lose control in Diego Costa situation as Costa's lawyer goes public
The last thing Chelsea need is Antonio Conte saying anything that Ricardo Cardoso could use in his next legal or PR salvo. And the last thing Antonio Conte needs is anything that distracts him from a small squad, injured stars, a pseudo-trophy on Sunday and opening day next weekend. At this point, selling Diego Costa is buying peace of mind.