Antonio Conte claimed he is unaware of any transfer offer from China for Diego Costa and insisted that only a back injury prevented Chelsea’s top scorer from taking part in his team’s victory at Leicester City. The Italian also refused to confirm or deny reports that he and some of his backroom staff were involved in a dispute with Costa.

“I have read a lot of speculation about this topic and I can tell you if there are problems – and I repeat ‘if’ – with players, I am used to solving them in the changing room, not outside, not in press conferences,” said Conte.

Chelsea bandwagon rolls on as Marcos Alonso double sees off Leicester Read more

Speaking earlier to Sky Sports, Conte said: “Before the game I told the truth, I don’t lie.” Asked again later why Costa did not travel to the King Power Stadium with his Chelsea team-mates, Conte replied: “If you want to know the truth, I’m ready to tell the truth. On Tuesday during the training session Diego stopped because he felt a pain in his back. From that moment he didn’t train during the week. For this reason today he wasn’t available. This is the reason, the truth.”

Costa is believed to have been the subject of a lucrative offer from an unnamed Chinese club that would earn the striker around £30m per year, but Conte pleaded ignorance. “I don’t know anything about this,” he said. “The club did not inform me about this. That can be only speculation.”

The Italian said he did not know how long it might take Costa to recover from his back injury, and when asked whether he expected the striker to play for Chelsea again he said: “Why not?”

He fended off further inquiries by suggesting it was disrespectful to discuss Costa when Chelsea’s other players had extended their lead at the top of the table by winning away to the champions. “I think that talking about this topic for the past five minutes is a bit of lack of respect for the other players and our performance,” he said. “Trust me, what I told you is the truth. If we start to think: ‘If an offer arrives, if, if, if…’ I don’t like to answer these types of questions. We must enjoy this victory. It wasn’t easy to win against Leicester. It’s important to respect our victory and our players after a good performance.

“We started this game with great pressure after Tottenham and Arsenal’s victories and we had to show good experience to manage this situation.”