Football: Diego Costa urged to apologise after row with coach

Chelsea's Diego Costa has been urged to apologise following a bust up with manager Antonio Conte. Photo / AP

Diego Costa has been urged to apologise for the bust up that has cast a shadow over Chelsea's Premier League title bid by his Blues team-mates.

As revealed by Telegraph Sport, Costa was dropped for the vital trip to Leicester City after a row with a Chelsea fitness coach and head coach Antonio Conte on the back of a huge offer from China.

Costa was told to train away from the rest of the squad for three days after the row and did not travel with the squad to Leicester.

But that has not stopped Costa's team-mates trying to act as peacemakers by telling the striker to say sorry for the incident and ignore the interest from China - at least until the summer.

Costa has been told that he will regret his actions and that he should concentrate on firing Chelsea to the title, and then reassess his future in the summer if he is still unhappy.

There was an encouraging sign that Costa may be listening to the advice late on Friday night, as he posted a picture on Instagram with the message 'Come on Chelsea'.

The message was instantly 'liked' by Chelsea captain John Terry and Cesc Fabregas, two of the men who have been working hard to try to make Costa see sense.

Chelsea hope the situation can still be resolved and Costa is likely to hold talks with Conte early next week, with owner Roman Abramovich adamant the 28-year-old will not be sold this month.

Costa received an offer worth £30million-a-year net at the start of this month from a Chinese club, thought to Tianjin Quanjian, that would make him one of the highest-paid players in the world.

Chelsea believe that offer was the trigger for his bust up, with more detail emerging over what happened.

Costa is understood to have become involved in a row with a Chelsea fitness coach in training on Tuesday with Conte backing his staff. The situation then became worse on Wednesday as Conte furiously shouted 'go to China' at the end of another heated exchange.

Conte made Costa train on his own, later than the rest of the squad, for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which explains why the Spain international posted an Instagram video of himself walking around a deserted Cobham in the dark with snow on the ground.

Costa has scored 14 Premier League goals this season and his team-mates believe he is vital to Chelsea's bid to hold on to their lead at the top of the table.