Antonio Conte has finally broken his silence on Diego Costa and revealed he decided to offload the striker in January.

Costa is heading for the exit after a turbulent 12 months under the Chelsea manager, with Atletico Madrid ready to bring the Spain international back to his former club this summer.

Yet Conte has insisted he opted to cut his losses on the troublesome forward in the New Year, after running out of patience as Costa pushed for a move to the lucrative Chinese Super League with Tianjin Quanjian.