Chelsea remove Diego Costa’s car from his first-team parking spot and leave it in youth team car park
Outcast striker left his top of the range motor at Chelsea's Cobham HQ earlier this summer but it has now been moved away from senior player's car park
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CHELSEA have moved Diego Costa's top of the range motor from the first team car park and left it gathering dust in a youth team bay at the club's training ground.
Costa has been AWOL for the first month of the new season after boss Antonio Conte told him he no longer featured in his first team plans at Stamford Bridge.
After the Blues failed to find a buyer for the controversial striker before the transfer window slammed shut, the Spanish international had hoped to hold talks with the club in the hope of resuming his place back in the squad.
But his isolation from the first team picture seems more remote than ever after his luxury car was removed from the car park senior players use at the Cobham HQ.
Costa had left his white Range Rover in the player's car park immediately outside the entrance to the training centre building when he jetted out to Brazil over the summer.
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But the motor is no longer in position alongside in the parking area used by the rest of his team-mates, with it shifted to a spot out in the youth team bays on the other side of the training ground.
SunSport also understands the club have taken the step of clearing out his locker after Costa had refused to return from South America to do so in pre-season.
The row erupted at the end of the season after Conte delivered his damning verdict on the striker with a text message telling him he was no longer wanted.
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Costa made the details public straight away in open defiance to his manager and the club, who immediately lost their negotiating power with any sides interested in signing him.
At that point the Blues were hoping a number of sides would be keen to land the firebrand forward, who had been a success on the pitch at Stamford Bridge but too often became a problem for the team.
But Costa made it clear he only wanted to join Atletico Madrid if he was to leave Chelsea, rejecting interest from clubs across Europe including AC Milan.
He then jetted out to home country Brazil, where he has spent much of the summer posting pictures and videos of himself clowning around and partying, along with some token footage of him training.
Some players in the Chelsea squad had been hopeful Costa and boss Conte could resolve their differences amid claims he had finally decided to fly back to London.
Even star man Eden Hazard admitted this week he would love the chance to play with Costa for the Blues again if a solution could be found.
But it appears suggest the club - and Conte - are in no mood to back down from their desire to move him on.
The 28-year-old has been left out of the club's Champions League squad this season to avoid him being cup-tied for any interested buyers in the January transfer window.
By that time, Atletico Madrid's transfer ban will have been ended and Chelsea finally hope to be able to offload him back to his former club.
Chelsea insist the car was only moved in line with their policy of shifting cars left for long periods, and that no club officials ordered it to be moved as part of any issue involving the player.