Antonio Conte has stated he wants ‘total control of the dressing room’ at Chelsea after reports circulated that he has forced Nemanja Matic to train alone and Diego Costa to find a new club.

Nemanja Matic is clearly on his way out of Stamford Bridge this summer, after the Blues signed £40m Bakayoko earlier in the summer. The Serbian midfielder has played no part in Chelsea’s pre-season tour, and wants to join either AC Milan or Manchester United.

Diego Costa was told earlier in the summer by Conte that he is not in Chelsea’s plans for next season, and will therefore be expected to look for a new club – presumably Atletico Madrid.

Conte has been criticised at times for his treatment of the duo, but the Chelsea manager has insisted that it is important to have control over players and to not have any rebels.

“The coach must be in total control of the dressing room otherwise there is anarchy,” Conte told the Evening Standard.

“If you lose control, anything can happen and probably you will be sacked in one or two months. If you are lucky three months.”

“It is more difficult. When I was a footballer, the club had more power. If you give education and respect, you must demand education and respect. It is logical that when you must be tough, you must be tough.”

“Then it is right when you have 22 players, it is right to have the same behaviour with all the players – not because one is young and they are different. That is not good.”

It is clear that there are issues at Chelsea with Matic and Costa, and Conte is showing his strong leadership by putting his foot down and not allowing characters to shake the dressing room morale.

The two players are seemingly not short of suitors as Costa has been strongly linked with a move back to Atletico Madrid or a move to Tianjin Quanjian in China. We know Matic has been connected with a transfer to reunite with Jose Mourinho at Man United as well a rumoured swap deal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Arsenal in addition to Juventus showing a serious interest in acquiring the Serbian player.

So the futures of Matic and Costa remain unclear, but one thing is for sure, they won’t be at Chelsea next season.