Can some of you fellpw Chelsea fans explain this Costa saga? Who is to blame for this? Costa himself or Conte?
Costa, but I take it all with a grain of salt from each side.
The story seems to be that Conte/Chelsea decided to move on from Costa in January, and the club is probably the source for the crazy China bids, whether leaking or contacting China. Since they weren't able to get a replacement, they bit for Belotti, that stopped the sale of Costa.
The text message from the summer was to me mis-interpreted, but at that point, Costa already knew he wasn't really in Chelsea's plans, and he was trying to force his way to Atletico.
Basically, to sum it up, Conte got sick of Costa's antics and not training/conditioning to his standards, and Costa will do anything to get back to Atletico. Both parties are stubborn, and Chelsea is holding up for a bigger fee as Atletico is wanting to pay very little for him.
Atletico is not distancing/backing-off as they don't want to completely burn a bridge with Chelsea, but also don't want to pay what Chelsea is asking. Costa is mad at Atletico for not rescuing him, but he still wants to go there.
Chelsea are likely prepared to Malouda him.