Adriana Garcia
Jan 28, 2026, 08:42 AM
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Napoli head coach Antonio Conte has insisted that any criticism directed at him by his former striker at Chelsea Diego Costa falls on deaf ears.
Costa, 37, said the Italian manager is a "very bitter guy" in a recent interview given to his former Chelsea teammate John Obi Mikel on The Obi One Podcast last week.
Costa helped the Conte-coached Chelsea win the Premier League title in the 2016-17 campaign.
Asked about Costa's comments in a news conference ahead of Napoli's Champions League clash with Chelsea, Conte said: "Honestly, I'm not a person that loses energy reading what people say or not.
"Also because I know very well that around football there are intelligent people, clever people and stupid people. I don't lose or spend my time reading intelligent people or stupid people.
"Diego Costa played with me one season. I can speak about football and we won the league together. Then he wanted to go away for three times in the same season, I know all this. After Chelsea, I don't know what happened to him. "
Antonio Conte aimed a dig at Diego Costa during his news conference on Tuesday. Ciro De Luca/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Costa joined Chelsea from Atlético Madrid in the summer of 2014 and scored 59 goals in 120 games.
The forward won two Premier League titles at Stamford Bridge and was the club's top scorer in each of his three full seasons. But he never hid his dissatisfaction with life in England and pushed for a move back to Atlético on several occasions.
He was dropped by Conte in January 2017 following a training-ground argument and a lucrative bid from Chinese Super League club Tianjin Quanjian. Chelsea eventually signed forward Álvaro Morata that summer while Costa opted to remain in Brazil that summer rather than return to London.
Antonio Conte and Diego Costa won the Premier League title together at Chelsea in 2017. Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images
Costa accused Chelsea of treating him "like a criminal" and he eventually left to rejoin Atlético in January 2018.
"It is a shame because I was very happy in Chelsea, but I did not want to cause a problem for the club," Costa said during The Obi One Podcast. "The players wanted me to come back but nobody liked him, that's why he didn't last long.
"He's a person that doesn't trust others, he thinks he knows everything. You don't enjoy training with him. He's always angry, always with a long face. He probably doesn't have sex at home because he is a very bitter guy.
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"The past is the past, it is a shame. The titles he won at Chelsea, he won it with me for his bad luck. I wish him all the best with his life."
Conte, 56, who also led Chelsea to the FA Cup in 2018, has guided Inter Milan and Napoli to Serie A titles.