Chelsea ready to sell Matic to Manchester United with Serbian set to follow Costa out the door

Antonio Conte has finally broken his silence on Diego Costa by revealing he decided to axe the Chelsea striker in January.

And while Costa is heading for the Stamford Bridge exit, another of their title winners, Nemanja Matic, is also set to leave with Chelsea ready to sell the Serbia international to Manchester United in a £50million deal.

United are weighing up an improved offer for Matic after a £35million bid was turned down, with Jose Mourinho targeting a reunion with the defensive midfielder.

It has emerged he will not even be allowed to train with Chelsea’s first team if he returns to their Cobham base, and that the troublesome forward asked to leave on three separate occasions last season, infuriating his manager and Chelsea officials to set up an acrimonious parting of the ways this summer.

The pair have endured a fractious relationship since Conte’s appointment as Chelsea manager 12 months ago and Atletico Madrid are ready to bring the Spain international back to his old club this summer.

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Chelsea are understood to be haggling with Atletico over who will pay Costa’s wages until January, with the Spanish club currently under a transfer ban. Atletico failed with an initial bid of £26m but it is believed that progress has since been made over the fee between the two clubs.

The big hurdle, however, will be who pays Costa’s £150,000-a-week wages up to the New Year. Yet Conte has insisted he opted to cut his losses on the 28 year-old midway through last season, after running out of patience as Costa pushed for a move to the lucrative Chinese Super League with Tianjin Quanjian.

Chelsea eventually agreed a compromise for Costa to stay for the remainder of the season but his sale is now inevitable, his relationship with the club totally beyond repair.

Conte said: “I don’t like to talk about players who are not here but the only thing I can tell you [is that] in January, the Costa situation was very clear, for the club, for him and his agent. For me the situation is closed.”

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Costa has been on holiday in Brazil during Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the Far East and gave another clear hint over his future plans earlier this week when he posted a video of him wearing an Atletico Madrid jersey.

As previously reported by Telegraph Sport, the forward has already said his goodbyes to the Chelsea squad.

Matic could also follow Costa, ensuring Chelsea will be without another key man from their title triumph last season. The Serb also wants to leave the Premier League champions this summer and is keen to play under his former manager, Mourinho, after not joining the Chelsea squad on tour.

Juventus are also set to open talks over a potential deal next week but United are determined to push a deal through this month, with Mourinho poised to return with a second bid.

Chelsea are happy to do business with United if they agree on a price and owner Roman Abramovich has given Matic his blessing to move to Old Trafford, as a reward for the 28-year-old’s part in helping the club lift the title twice in the last three seasons.

Conte has already moved to replace Costa by completing the £58m capture of Alvaro Morata. The former Real Madrid forward will touch down in Singapore early next week and is expected to play in the International Champions Cup game against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

“This is a good signing for us,” said Conte. “Morata is a young player but has a lot of experience and played in the past with Real Madrid and Juventus. Real Madrid has a lot of experience for the league and the Champions League.

“He is young and can improve a lot. He is our first choice. He’s a good striker, a player with the right prospects for Chelsea. He can show his value with us.”

Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma is joining Stoke on loan for the season, after signing a new contract with the west London club.