6 Footballers Who Totally Betrayed Their Manager

5. Diego Costa Forces His Return To Atletico Madrid

Diego Costa Chelsea
Jon Bromley/ActionPlus/Corbis

For those non-Chelsea fans watching, Diego Costa's departure from Stamford Bridge was often hilarious to see play out.

After deciding that he fancied sampling the ludicrous money on offer in China, the Brazilian-born Spain international made Chelsea manager Antonio Conte's life a misery. And when that proposed move to China fell through, things got even worse for Conte.

Costa unsettled the rest of the squad and fell out with the manager and coaches, even though he was back in the team and scoring goals as Chelsea went on to win the 2017/17 Premier League title.

Still, Conte felt that the burly striker had betrayed his trust and was a bad influence - to the point that the Italian let Costa know via a June 2017 text message that he was no longer part of the manager's plans.

Diego Costa then spent months doing what Diego Costa does best - being a total arse.

Staying in Brazil and spending months partying - usually in an Atletico Madrid shirt - the forward refused to move to any other club bar Atleti as he forced his own transfer fee down. Costa would get his way, officially returning to Madrid in January 2018.

For Antonio Conte, this whole situation left a black cloud over his time at Stamford Bridge and he'd eventually leave the club just months after Costa.

 
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