DIEGO COSTA is set to miss his second pre-season game in succession – as speculation mounts around his Chelsea future.
Atletico Madrid want their former striker back and he has now developed a niggling back injury.
He is expected to miss tonight’s pre-season tune-up against Real Madrid in Detroit – having already missed the friendly in LA against Liverpool in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The Blues kick off their Premier League campaign against West Ham at Stamford Bridge in just over two weeks – and have already been frustrated in their efforts to sign Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku.
Conte said: “It’s important to see the players doing the training session. If I don’t see a player doing the training session I can’t put them in the game.
“These are my rules and it’s important to understand this.
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“My concept is very clear. I want to see my players doing the work in the training session.
“If someone is injured or there is some problem and I don’t see the player in the training session it is impossible to think of putting him in the starting 11 or on the bench.
“In the last few days he had a pain in the back and for this reason he didn’t train and didn’t play.
“When Costa trained with us I saw always the right attitude but in these days he didn’t train with us.”
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