It seems inevitable that Diego Costa’s spell at Chelsea will end on unhealthy terms.The striker clashed with Antonio Conte more than once during the season, according to reports, and even received a text from his manager informing him that he isn’t considered part of Chelsea’s future.“Hi Diego, I hope you are well,” Conte said to Costa, according to the Mirror."Thanks for the seasono [sic] we spent together. Good luck for the next year but you are not in my plan.”It doesn’t get more blunt than that.Costa confirmed the message, insisting that he will “have to find a way out” of Stamford Bridge.“My relationship with the coach has been bad this season. I suppose I’ve had a bad season so I can’t go on,” the 28-year-old said earlier this month, per The Guardian.“I’m going to be honest, the other day, Conte sent me a message saying he does not count on me for next season, so I’ll have to find a way out.”
The Blues are unwilling to pay £100m for Lukaku
The situation has left Chelsea in need of a new striker, unless Conte is willing to go forward with Michy Batshuayi, who played 239 minutes of Premier League football last season, as his main man.
Romelu Lukaku is on their radar but the Blues are put off by the Belgian’s £100 million price tag, according to the Mirror.
They’ve been linked with a different target - although it’s likely that they’ll have to stump up a similar, world-record number in order to sign him.
Alternative target is an ambitious one
The Mirror have reported that Chelsea have opened talks with Bayern Munich over the signing of Robert Lewandowski.
The Polish international, whose 30-goal haul in the Bundesliga was one shy of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s tally, criticised his teammates over a perceived lack of support in his bid to become Germany’s top scorer.
Lewandowski was disappointed at end of last season
Lewandowski’s agent confirmed that the striker was left “disappointed” by how the end of the season panned out.
“Robert told me that he got no support and that the coach [Carlo Ancelotti] gave no call to help him in the last game to win the top-scorer title,” Maik Barthel said.
“He was disappointed as I have ever seen him before.”
Lewandowski has scored 110 goals in three seasons at Bayern.
It’s unsurprising, then, that Chelsea are ready to capitalise on any cracks in his relationship with the German champions.