Chelsea are determined to deflect interest in Diego Costa from Atlético Madrid and Chinese Super League clubs after Antonio Conte emerged from talks with the Spain forward encouraged that he may be persuaded to remain at Stamford Bridge.
Conte, who was formally confirmed as the reigning champions’ next head coach on Monday, will take up the reins in south-west London after his Italy side’s participation in Euro 2016 has concluded.
The 46-year-old is keen to make the Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan his first signing and Chelsea held initial talks with the Serie A club’s sporting director, Walter Sabatini, on Friday. Roma want €35m for the Belgian with Chelsea hoping to pay nearer €25m. Conte is also keen to explore the possibility of bringing the Roma centre-back Kostas Manolas to Stamford Bridge.
Conte has just returned home after four days in London and, having briefly met the first-team squad after training on Tuesday, held lengthy talks with a number of the senior players in individual meetings the following day.
Those discussions took place at the club’s training ground in Cobham and at a central London hotel as Conte sought to assess the state of mind of the key performers he will inherit upon the start of pre-season training in July. Costa’s future had been his first concern, with the Brazil-born striker having previously made clear his frustration at life in England and, in particular, the scrutiny to which his on-field discipline has been held. He is serving his second three-match suspension of the season.
Atlético had hoped to capitalise on their former player’s perceived disenchantment, and clubs in China have mooted offering more than twice the £32m Chelsea paid in 2014 to secure the latest elite recruit for the Super League. Yet there is no mood within the hierarchy to part with a player who has three years to run on his contract and who, despite struggling over the first half of this campaign, is the team’s leading scorer.
Offers will apparently be knocked back in the belief that the 27-year-old has been convinced he has a major role to play under the new head coach. Conte has stressed he wants players who are fully committed to the club and that he will sanction the sales of those who are not. Yet he has also made clear he admires the forward’s style of play and would like to retain him. The striker will sit out the final match of his ban as his team take on Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
Players such as Thibaut Courtois, Nemanja Matic and Eden Hazard are also believed to have met one-on-one with Conte, the latter largely discussing the injury issues which have so nullified his impact this term, and talks also took place with John Terry. The Italian did not inform the 35-year-old captain – who will be sidelined for a further two to three weeks with an achilles complaint, much to his own frustration – whether he would be pushing for him to be retained beyond the expiry of his contract at the end of June. Regardless, Terry could take the meeting as a potentially positive sign even if he is unlikely to be able to feature again until the final few weeks of the season.
Conte will report back to the board with his thoughts before a final decision is made on the captain’s future and, while his focus at present is fixed firmly on the Azzurri and the summer’s European Championship, Chelsea do expect him to return to Cobham for further meetings before end of the campaign.
“Of course he will follow everything in this club,” said Guus Hiddink, who spent time with the Italian on Tuesday at the training ground discussing what he has learned from his five months in charge. “I’ve told him that if he’d like to come, he’s more than welcome. I like transparency.
“When you go into a new situation, if someone wants to gather some information, one can always get it. But I didn’t want too much information when I started here because you always have your own judgment. Every other judgment is influenced by personal views, maybe seen through coloured glasses.”
The interim manager is expected to rest Courtois, who had cast some doubt on his future at the club in an interview conducted while on international duty with Belgium, for the match at Swansea given the lack of game-time enjoyed of late by the experienced back-up, Asmir Begovic. Players such as Bertrand Traoré, Matt Miazga, Kenedy, Jake Clarke-Salter and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will continue to feature in the match-day squad in the absence, through injury, of a number of senior players.
Conte has submitted to the technical director, Michael Emenalo, a list of prospective signings he would like the club to pursue before his arrival, with the addition of a forward – Edinson Cavani, Gonzalo Higuaín and Romelu Lukaku have been mentioned – a priority even if Costa stays. Juan Cuadrado is expected to return from a year-long loan at Juventus, while Nainggolan and, most likely, two senior centre-halves are expected to be pursued. Emenalo’s duties will not change under the new regime.
