How do you solve a problem like Diego Costa? Chelsea manager Antonio Conte seems to be struggling to find a solution beyond simply ignoring the Spain forward, while the player himself did not help his situation at Stamford Bridge by taking an extended summer break in Brazil at the same time as pleading for a return to Atletico Madrid.

Costa is reportedly back in London, ready to face the music at Chelsea after failing to get his move to Atletico before last week's transfer deadline passed, but the Premier League champions have yet to confirm that the 28-year-old is back in the country.

Confusion still reigns where Costa is concerned, but one thing for certain is that the current state of play cannot continue, either for Chelsea or the player.

The striker is out in the wilderness at Stamford Bridge after being told, via a text message from Conte at the end of the season, that he was not in the manager's plans going forward, despite scoring 20 league goals to help the club to the title.

That was a mistake on Conte's part, but Costa's refusal to return to Chelsea for preseason training in July ensures that both parties are equally culpable in the blame game.

The stand-off has led to a situation where the player does not want to play for the club, the manager doesn't want him either, but he is still there. Atletico's transfer ban until January 2018 certainly complicated the issue but, with the Spanish club signing other players and loaning them out for six months, Costa told ESPN Brasil a month ago that agreeing a fee was the issue. And one that was not ultimately resolved.

It is a mess, and one that Chelsea could do without considering they only have two recognised forwards on their books in Alvaro Morata and Michy Batshuayi. So is there a way out? Can pragmatism on both sides lead to a compromise that sees Costa pull on a Chelsea shirt once more?

There is a precedent. As irretrievable as the relationship between Chelsea and Costa may appear, it is still some way from becoming as rancorous as the dispute between Manchester City and Carlos Tevez during the 2011-12 season.

Back then, City's Argentine forward was told by manager Roberto Mancini that he was finished at the club after allegedly refusing to warm-up during a Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich in Germany.

City immediately suspended Tevez for two weeks, fined him two weeks' wages and set in motion an internal disciplinary procedure which ultimately saw him fined another £1.2 million -- six weeks' wages -- for "gross misconduct for serious breaches of contract."

Having left Manchester for Buenos Aires on Nov. 7, 2011, Tevez then refused to return to City, choosing to play golf in Argentina rather than head back to the club and resolve his dispute.

With City having earlier told Tevez that his attempts to force a move back to Brazilian club Corinthians forfeited his right to a £6m loyalty bonus, the cost of the stand-off to the player ultimately exceeded £9m in lost fees and wages.

Yet despite the entrenched positions of both City and Tevez, a resolution was found and the forward flew back to Manchester in February 2012, more than three months after going AWOL.

Tevez apologised to Mancini, the manager accepted -- perhaps grudgingly on both parts -- and the former Manchester United player made 10 appearances in the league during the remaining three months of the season, scoring four goals -- including a hat trick in a 6-1 win at Norwich -- to help inspire City to their first league championship since 1968.

Pragmatism and grown-up decisions somehow salvaged a satisfactory, and successful, outcome for City and Tevez, so much so that he ended up playing another season at the Etihad before moving to Juventus in the summer of 2013.

The question facing Chelsea and Costa now is whether they can also thrash out their differences to the extent that the player is able to play again -- even if only until January, when a deal with Atletico can be reached.

Chelsea will be a stronger team with Costa in it, even though his omission from the Champions League squad -- done to prevent him being cup-tied and further diminish his transfer value -- means he would be restricted to domestic fixtures.

But the player sitting on a sun-lounger in Brazil or watching from the stands at Stamford Bridge will not help anyone. The longer he sits on the sidelines, the more his transfer value will be damaged and that is an unsatisfactory situation for Chelsea.

There is still time for all concerned to resolve their differences, however, if only as a sticking plaster until the transfer window re-opens.

And if it all seems too acrimonious and bitter for Costa, Conte and Chelsea to put it all behind them, Tevez is living proof that it is never too late to find a solution.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by MARK OGDEN, SENIOR FOOTBALL WRITER

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