Chelsea winger Pedro Rodriguez says he saw nothing to suggest there were any issues between manager Antonio Conte and Diego Costa last season.
The Italian coach has asked the striker to leave Stamford Bridge this summer but speaking on the El Larguero programme on Radio Cadena SER (quotes via AS), Pedro said there were no hints of a breakdown in their relationship:
“I have never seen anything strange between Conte and Diego Costa.”
As Costa’s club and international team mate, Pedro may have been expected to provide some inside knowledge about what had gone on, but it seems he is equally in the dark as everyone else. The Spanish winger says that Costa gives Chelsea an added dimension but he doesn’t know anything else about the forward’s future:
“We still do not know what’s going to happen with Diego Costa. He’s a player who always gives you something extra.”
Pedro joined Chelsea for £23m from Barcelona in 2015, and during the radio interview he was also very critical of his former club for failing to allow players from the youth setup to progress into the first team. He feels that many players will, like him, have to move teams in order to play first team football.