Report: Chelsea fines AWOL Diego Costa

Diego Costa's absence from Chelsea will cost the Spanish striker.

Costa has been at odds with the club this summer after apparently being told he was no longer in its plans for the 2017-18 campaign.

However, he was expected back at the team's Cobham training ground last month, but failed to appear despite being granted an extra week's holiday. Rather than continue with the Blues, Costa, who also criticised manager Antonio Conte, admitted to the Daily Mail he's "waiting for Chelsea" to set him free as he attempts to engineer a move back to Atletico Madrid.

Now it appears Chelsea has taken action against the AWOL striker by fining him £300,000 for his absence over the last four weeks, according to Kaveh Solhekol of Sky Sports.

It's an amount believed to be equal to the wages he would collect over a two-week period.

Costa would prefer to rejoin Atletico, but a move to the Spanish outfit has been complicated by the team's transfer ban, which lasts until January.

He admitted, though, that he's prepared to sit out the entire season and remain in his hometown in Brazil.

"If I have to I will stay in Brazil. 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."