Frank Lampard calls Diego Costa's exit a 'relief' to Chelsea

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Chelsea, Sep 27: Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has claimed that Diego Costa leaving the Blues has come as a relief to everyone associated with the clubs.

Costa and Antonio Conte had a serious rift after the Italian manager told him to leave the club by SMS and later the striker accused the manager of such bad treatment and publicly criticised his former manager.

The situation between the two personalities got bitter after both of them commented about each other in the series of interviews.

Last week the Spaniard finally left the club on a permanent deal to re-join Atletico Madrid in January for a fee around £57m.

Chelsea and Atletico Madrid will face each other in their crucial group league match on Thursday, however, the striker won't be available this time for the Spanish side. But ahead of the time, while speaking about the player, the Blues legend Lampard suggested that after such drama, this transfer could be the best possible outcome for the both side.

The former England international wrote in a column for the Evening Standard: “Costa leaving will be a relief to Conte and Chelsea - it is the best thing for all concerned.

“If it was just a case of selling a talented striker, then we’d be talking about what a great loss he is to the club. But he had to go. There was no way he could stay at Chelsea, given the events of the summer and the sooner he went, the better.

“It’s great for Costa, too. He needs to go and train properly before starting playing again in January. He couldn’t carry on staying in Brazil like he was, it wasn’t helping anybody.”

Chelsea will play two back to match tough matches as they will first face Atletico away and then will play with City at Stamford Bridge. And according to Lampard, his former team can send out a real signal of intention if they can arise from both matches with satisfactory result.

He added: “Atletico is one of the hardest places to go in Europe, with the way they play and the atmosphere in the stadium.

“On Saturday, it does not get any easier with a home fixture against Manchester City.

“Pep Guardiola’s side are in great form, scoring a lot of goals and are three points clear of Chelsea in the Premier League table.

“If they win at Stamford Bridge, the gap will be extended to six, which is a fair amount all of a sudden.

“However, should Chelsea get through these two fixtures unscathed, then it will send out a real message of intent.”