?Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit has criticised Antonio Conte’s decision to inform striker Diego Costa that he is not in the club’s plans via text.
The Spanish forward is now expected to leave the club before the close of the transfer window, with former team Atletico Madrid his preferred destination.
And Gullit has expressed his belief that Conte made a “mistake” in distancing himself from Costa, who scored 20 Premier League goals for the champions last season.
Negotiations ongoing to take Diego Costa back to Atlético Madrid from Chelsea. Costa camp keen to end drama. Chelsea know how that feels
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) August 20, 2017
“It’s all been instigated about what happened with Diego Costa,” Gullit told ?BBC Five Live.
“It’s a little bit strange that you hear at the end of the season that you’re not welcome, and now he’s training somewhere in Brazil and that’s not good for Costa, not good for the club, not good for anyone.
“(It was) not very wise to do. You don’t do that. I think it is a mistake by Conte and I hope that he has learnt from it. He still has the possibility to do something about it, just go to him and say, ‘I’m sorry that I did it, you have to come back, we will talk’.
“You need to see each other face to face. You don’t need to like each other, but you need to respect each other. If he doesn’t want to come back then you have to find the best solution for the club.”
Gullit also gave his opinion on proposals to close the transfer window before the season starts.
“The thing that irritates me the most is that we all talk about transfers until the 1st of September,” he added.
“Do that before the season starts. I think it has to stop that you can still do transfers when you have already started with your competitions. It is a bad thing at the moment because we talk only about transfers.”
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