ROY KEAN BRANDS CHELSEA'S DIEGO COSTA A " BALLOON"

Roy Keane gave a typically withering assessment of exiled striker Diego Costa, suggesting the champions are better off without a player who is a 'bit of a balloon'. 

 

Costa refused to return to Chelsea's Cobham training ground after Antonio Conte told him he had no future at the club, before going on strike in Brazil for which he was fined. 

His desired move to back to Atletico Madrid failed to materialise leaving an awkward impasse between club and player. Keane though, is in no doubt that Chelsea should not go back. 

"They are better off without him," said Keane on ITV's Champions League highlights show. "The guy is obviously big trouble.

"I know he has done well for them, but he looks to me to be a bit of a balloon. Get rid of him. Have players at your club that want to be there."

Diego Costa claims Antonio Conte sent him a text message that he was not wanted

Alvaro Morata has scored three Premier League goals already, and Conte's have recovered from an opening game defeat to Burnley with three consecutive wins and a 6-0 thrashing of Qarabag in the Champions League. 

Costa is not the first target of Keane's ire from the television studio. Costa's teammate Eden Hazard felt the force of the Irishman's acerbic tongue during Chelsea's doomed 2015-16 campaign in the dog days of the Jose Mourinho era. 

"If I was a team-mate of his I'd kick him up and down the training pitch," said Keane. "Some of the senior players have got to get hold of him. A talented, talented boy, but his attitude is like a spoilt child. He's just absolutely ridiculous."
He was unimpressed with brothers Paul and Florentin Pogba being overly fraternal in Manchester united's Europa League tie with Saint-Etienne, saying: "They spoke more tonight than I have spoken to my brothers in last five years." 

Arsenal forward Theo Walcott may have scored twice in Champions League win over Basel last season, but was another to be told some home truths by the former Manchester United captain. 

Keane said: "It's taken him a while to get a settle at the club, hasn't it? Ten years?"

"Listen the guy [Theo Walcott] needs to relax; he's had a good week.

"Try playing well for the next seven, eight, nine months when the real crunch games come."