• Costa talked of text in which manager says striker has no future there • Chelsea’s negotiations on fee damaged by suitors knowing they want to sell

Diego Costa’s decision to make public a text message exchange with Antonio Conte, in which the Italian apparently confirmed the striker has no future with Chelsea, could end up costing the Premier League champions millions of pounds with potential suitors now aware the Spain forward is unsettled at Stamford Bridge.

Costa, who is with his national squad having played a significant part in his club side’s title success, has said he will “have to find a way out” given his relationship with Conte and the club has effectively fractured beyond repair. Yet Chelsea have made clear to the 28-year-old that he will not be permitted to negotiate his own exit and, instead, the club will take the lead in overseeing the departure of a player whose contract has two years to run.

Chelsea had initially hoped to sell Costa to Tianjin Quanjian for £76m but their chances of generating such a mind-boggling fee, which could have been reinvested in the pursuit of Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, have been complicated by the player’s comments to the media after Spain’s draw with Colombia on Wednesday night. The striker had suggested his relationship with Conte “has been bad this season” before relaying a text exchange between the pair.

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“I’m going to be honest, the other day Conte sent me a message saying he does not count on me for next season,” Costa said in the mixed zone, “so I’ll have to find a way out.” The fact the striker has made clear he has been told he can leave would appear to undermine Chelsea’s bargaining position with possible buyers. Costa could even pursue the payment of a loyalty bonus if sold given he has not formally asked for a transfer and has been told the club are actively looking to move him on.

It is understood Conte had sent an initial message detailing what he expected of the player in terms of fitness work over the summer, with the indifferent tone of Costa’s response apparently prompting a follow-up which cast doubt on the player’s future. The pair’s relationship has been tested regularly over the manager’s first year in English football. The first cracks opened in pre-season, when Costa had claimed a back injury prevented him from playing a full part in the manager’s monotonous if crucial pattern-of-play sessions, and an angry clash with a fitness coach in the wake of Tianjin first expressing interest in January testing matters further.

He was subsequently dropped for a league game at Leicester. Conte claimed that was because of another back complaint – he has been consistent in only selecting players able to play a full part in training – and had opted not to criticise the player in public after Costa was filmed enjoying a post-match beer in the dressing room following a win against West Bromwich Albion the previous month. On each occasion, the Italian made clear he would not tolerate the forward’s influence disrupting Chelsea’s pursuit of the title and, to his credit, Costa responded by leading the line effectively and taking his goal tally to 22 in all competitions. His last came in the FA Cup final defeat by Arsenal.

The player indicated in the aftermath at Wembley that he would resist any move to the Chinese Super League before the World Cup next summer, with his preference a return to his former club Atlético Madrid. Yet with the Spanish side’s transfer ban upheld and not due to expire until January 2018, he would face sitting out the first half of next season if Atlético mustered a bid deemed acceptable to Chelsea. He is unlikely to have the patience for such a scenario. “I love living in Madrid but I have to think about my future,” Costa had said. “It’s complicated because I cannot go four or five months without playing. I have no preference for a league, I just want to play.”

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More plausible may be an initial switch to Milan, now under the ownership of Li Yonghong, to follow in the footsteps of Fernando Torres. The Spaniard ended up back at Atlético via a spell at San Siro, and Costa’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is believed to have been in Italy on Thursday to speak with the Rossoneri over summer recruitment. Costa’s situation will have been addressed, although Milan have alternative forward options they may opt to pursue.

Chelsea always envisaged adding to their forward ranks this summer, and had hoped to persuade Everton to drop their £100m valuation of Lukaku. Yet even that price may rise now that their eagerness to shift Costa has been exposed. The Premier League winners do retain an interest in Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk, who is no longer under immediate consideration by Liverpool, and will seek to purchase a back-up goalkeeper to replace Asmir Begovic.