Roman Abramovich has vowed not to give in to player power.
According to a report in The Mirror the Chelsea owner won’t allow Diego Costa to move to China under any circumstances.
Costa has been offered a £580,000/week deal by Tianjin Quanjian but is under contract with Chelsea until June 2019.
Chelsea have been keen to get Costa and Thibaut Courtois onto new improved contracts but can’t come close to the sort of terms on offer from China.
According to the report in The Mirror Abramovich sees the Costa situation as a matter of principle- if Chelsea give in to the offer he feels that it will lead to an exodus of players from the Premier League.
Chelsea had no issue with selling Oscar who wasn’t part of Antonio Conte’s plans but a bid for their top scorer is a completely different matter and appears to be non negotiable for their wealthy Russian owner.