Chinese club offer for Diego Costa mere 'speculation': Chelsea manager Conte

Chelsea FC manager Antonio Conte has dismissed a reported offer from a Chinese football club to key striker Diego Costa as mere speculation, and added that the latter did not feature in Saturday's English Premier League match because of a back pain.

The Guardian quoted Conte as claiming that he was unaware of any transfer offer from China for Diego Costa and insisted that only a back injury prevented Chelsea's top scorer from taking part in his team's 3-0 victory at Leicester City.

He also refused to confirm or deny reports that he and some of his backroom staff were involved in a dispute with Costa.

Conte maintained that Costa has been unwell since Tuesday and has not trained for the whole week.

Costa is believed to have been the subject of a lucrative offer from an unnamed Chinese club that would earn the striker around 30 million pounds per year.

Conte was quoted, as saying, "I don't know anything about this," he said. "The club did not inform me about this. That can be only speculation."

The Italian said he did not know how long it might take Costa to recover from his back injury, and when asked whether he expected the striker to play for Chelsea again he said: "Why not?"

He fended off further inquiries.