Chelsea did not fine Diego Costa for injuring his back

In what appears to be the final word on this Costa diversion of the past few days, Sky Sports are reporting that Chelsea did not fine Diego Costa for being a doodyhead injured.

Apparently there were earlier reports from The Sun and the like of Chelsea levying a £185,000 fine on Costa (so roughly a week’s wages, plus interest), but Sky’s Chelsea sources have emphatically denied any such nonsense.

A source at Chelsea told SSNHQ: "We don't fine players when they injure their backs."

Now that’s pretty funny.

You may choose to believe whichever source you’d like obviously, but the message from the club has been consistent all along. Costa was injured, he didn’t train for most of last week, then trained alone while the squad had their scheduled day off, and now they’re back together as one big (happy) Chelsea family.

Sky does claim that there was an “hour-long” meeting between Costa and “the club” to clear the air on Tuesday, but this is something Chelsea did not confirm.

In the end, what matters is this.

Whatever happens in the summer is none of our concern at the moment. We’ve got a league to win.