Diego Costa to make Chelsea return, reveals Conte

London (AFP) – Chelsea striker Diego Costa will return for Sunday’s home game with Hull City after missing last weekend’s 3-0 victory at Leicester City, manager Antonio Conte revealed on Friday.

A back problem was the official reason for Costa’s absence at Leicester, but there were reports it stemmed from an angry row with fitness coach Julio Tous.

“He’s available for the game against Hull City,” Conte told a press conference at Chelsea’s Cobham base southwest of London.

“He restarted having training sessions on Tuesday with the rest of the team.”

Costa, Chelsea’s top scorer with 14 league goals, was also reported to be the subject of a mega-money approach from Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian.

But Conte said: “I think the player wants to stay at Chelsea. He’s very happy to play with us. This idea (to move) is far from his mind.”