Diego Costa Fires Final Shot at Antonio Conte After Clubs Agree Terms for Atletico Return

Diego Costa has fired one last shot at Chelsea manager Antonio Conte after the Blues finally agreed a deal to send him back to Atletico Madrid this week, saying that he won't let his good memories at Stamford Bridge be 'tainted' by a single person. 

Conte informed the Spain international by text over the summer that he would not be in his plans for the upcoming season, leading to a very public campaign from Costa to secure a move back to Atletico Madrid after three seasons and two league titles in west London. 

Quoted by MailOnline Sport this week, Costa insisted: "No. I never wanted it to happen this way. I have a special affection for the people at Chelsea. I'm not going to let the image of what I did at Chelsea be tainted by one person. To a certain extent they also made it easier because they were happy for me to leave."

When asked about his conditioning after spending a long summer in Brazil rather than training with his clubmates, he said: "Normal for someone who has been out of action for three months. I’ve done a little bit of training and I’m not as bad as some people are saying," joking "No, I’m not afraid of the scales. Just the training sessions."

On his drawn-out move to Atletico, who he cannot play for until January, he added: "I think it dragged on for too long but in the end there was a happy ending and now I can start to train with my team-mates. I’m never going to be found wanting when it comes to desire to do well. Hopefully things will work out."