Costa prefers Brazil stay over stint with reserves: 'I'm not a criminal'

Chelsea outcast Diego Costa said he'd rather defy the club's orders and spend the next year in Brazil than suffer through the shame of training with the reserves.

Speaking to the Daily Mail's Adam Crafton in his hometown of Lagarto - where he's taken refuge after receiving notice that he's surplus to requirements - Costa emphasised that he won't go anywhere else but to Atletico Madrid.

"Why won't they let me go if they don't want me?" he said. "I have to do what I have to do. I have to think of myself. I've been a good boy here and tried to do the right thing."

Back in June, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte famously informed Costa by text message that his time at the club was up. The Brazilian-born poacher has since claimed he spurned chances to join other teams in order to reunite with Diego Simeone's side, and he's asked for a deal to be done by the end of August.

"My desire is to go to Atletico," Costa said. "I've spoken to Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia. I said, 'If the manager doesn't want me, I want to go to Atletico Madrid.'

"I have rejected other offers. They want to sell me to China or other teams. The language is better for me in Spain. If I'm off, I'm going to the club I want to go to - not the club that's paying the most."

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

The Blues granted Costa an extra week off after they left for a pre-season tour of Asia. The 28-year-old spent the intervening weeks in Brazil and even took video of himself partying in an Atletico kit.

Watch: Diego Costa wears Atletico kit while partying in Brazil

Now that his vacation has extended beyond the start of the Premier League season, Costa said Chelsea has fined him several weeks' wages.

But money doesn't mean much to the Spanish international. He'd rather sacrifice competitive football during a World Cup year than go back to west London as a "criminal."

"They want me to be there training with the reserves. I wouldn't be allowed access to the first-team dressing room and I would have no contact at all with the guys. I'm not a criminal. I don't think it is fair after all I have done to be treated like that."

Costa added, "I am open to being a year in Brazil without playing, even if Chelsea fine me for a year and don't pay me. I'll come back stronger. If I was in the wrong, I'd go back now and do as they say."

Despite threats from his lawyer, Ricardo Cardoso, that he'd take Chelsea to court, Costa admitted legal proceedings have yet to begin. But it's still an avenue he could use to force a transfer.

Although his relationship with Conte is strained, Costa added that he still has a healthy rapport with several senior players and keeps in touch with Cesc Fabregas, Willian, and David Luiz over Whatsapp.

"They ask how I am. They really love me for the person I am," Costa said. "If they didn't, they wouldn't be saying they miss me and love me."

Costa has a contract with Chelsea until June 2019.