Diego Costa Left Out Of Chelsea’s Champions League Squad

English Premier League champions, Chelsea have left striker Diego Costa out of their squad for the forthcoming UEFA Champions League group stage.

Recall that the Spanish striker has been in a series of battle with the Stamford Bridge based club and had insisted he wanted to move to La Liga club, Athletic Madrid before the close of the window.

The 28-year-old had also accused the Blues of deliberately frustrating his move to the Spanish club.

But recently, the Spain international was tipped to return to training with the Premier League champions after failing to secure a move away during the transfer window.

The stay away striker was included in Chelsea’s official Premier League list, but the 28-year-old is yet to return to Chelsea for the new season, having remained in Brazil in a bid to force a move to Atletico Madrid.

However, the 28-year-old has been omitted from the 25-man list for European duties, which cannot be updated again until January.

The five Premier League clubs entering this year’s competition have announced their respective squads, with the group stages commencing next week, and there were a couple of surprise selections and omissions.

Manchester United have surprisingly named Zlatan Ibrahimovic and James Wilson in their own squad.

Ibrahimovic is recovering from a serious knee ligament injury and had been tipped to return to action in January, but his place on Jose Mourinho’s list implies that he could be available for the latter part of the group stage.

Wilson, meanwhile, has been drafted into Mourinho’s plans and handed the number 29 shirt, despite not having played for the club since the 2015-16 season.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has opted not to include Nathaniel Clyne, who is still recovering from a back injury and has not featured this season, but is still regarded as the club’s No 1 right-back.

Manchester City’s squad features Eliaquim Mangala and Fabian Delph, after the duo failed to secure moves away, while Vincent Janssen and Erik Lamela are notable absentees from Tottenham’s selection.

The opening round of group-stage matches takes place on Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 of September.