Diego Simeone on Diego Costa: If a player wants to leave…

Diego Simeone has cast doubt upon the future of striker Diego Costa at Atletico Madrid: “Any player who wants to leave, can leave.”

The Spain international refused to train with his Atletico Madrid teammates on Thursday after the club opened misconduct proceedings into his red card at Barcelona.

“Any player who wants to leave, can leave,” Simeone said cryptically when asked if Costa would be at the club next season.

“The situation with Diego at the moment is in-house, we resolved it yesterday and today (Friday) he has been training as normal.

“He has not enjoyed a good season which has not been helped by his injury, but we are hopeful his qualities can benefit us next season.

“We want him to return with hunger and put this behind him.”

The striker was shown a straight red card during the loss at Barcelona earlier this month by referee Gil Manzano, who stated in his post-match report that Costa insulted his mother, and that was the reason for the dismissal.

Costa has denied using a derogatory term towards the referee and as expected an appeal was launched on his behalf by the club but that proved unsuccessful.

The report now claims that video footage has proved that is not the case and Atleti will now seek to internally punish the player.

Reuters say that ‘personal reasons’ were the reason behind Costa’s refusal to train with Los Rojiblancos, rather than any injury or fitness issue.

Costa has been linked with a summer move to a club from the Chinese Super League.

Tags Diego Costa
La Liga - Club News