Antonio Conte cannot stop laughing at Costa situation

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Paris, Aug 19: Chelsea boss Antonio Conte finds himself in a tight corner by all accounts at the start of the new season, but the Italian seemed pretty relaxed on Friday afternoon at the pre-match conference.

During his pre-match press conference ahead of the weekend's clash with Tottenham, it didn't take long before the focus was switched to controversial striker Diego Costa.

The Chelsea striker is still in Brazil as he continues to wait for an exit from Stamford Bridge, and told the Daily Mail last week how he feels as though the Premier League champions are treating him "like a criminal".

Conte loved that quote, as he couldn't stop laughing when hearing it before insisting that he has to laugh about it as the war of words between the pair continues.

It seems the only solution will be to allow Costa to leave and get his desired move back to former club Atletico Madrid, but with just a fortnight to go in the summer transfer window, he's running out of time to escape west London.

"I think Tottenham is doing a great job in these years, [Mauricio] Pochettino is doing a great job," said Conte. "He created a good basis, good foundation for this club. We must do the same. We don't have this basis like Tottenham, this foundation," Conte said.

"I want to help my club build the same solid basis. Now we don't have this and we need time to create this.

"John Terry, [John Obi] Mikel, [Branislav] Ivanovic, [Didier] Drogba, we lost a lot of players in the last few years and now we need to find the right way to build something for the present, and for the future. No we don't have this solid foundation. For this reason we have to work hard to try and improve the squad."

"I think my task is to work with my players, to improve my team, this is my task," he added. "I know the club is working and is trying to do their best in the transfer market but I have to continue with my players.

"At the end of the transfer market we will see what happened, but in either case I will be very happy."