Diego Costa asked to leave Chelsea 12 months ago, Blues bemused over his antics this summer

Chelsea are bemused by Diego Costa’s claims to have been upset at being told he was not in the club’s plans for this season because he asked to leave a year ago, according to The Times.

The Spain international, who is currently in his native Brazil after skipping his supposed return to training at Cobham, went public to claim he had been show a lack of respect by head coach Antonio Conte. The Blues boss sent Costa a text message at the end of last season to inform him that he would not be part of his plans for the 2017/18 campaign.

But Chelsea have now briefed that the 28-year-old asked to leave during a pre-season training camp in Los Angeles in the summer of 2016.

At that stage he wanted to join his former club Atletico Madrid. In the January transfer window he fell out with Conte after the Blues boss blocked a big-money move to Chinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjian.

Now he is refusing to be sold to any club other than Atletico having made a third request to leave towards the end of last season, the report claims.