Chelsea eggheads have revealed that former manager Antonio Conte does not deserve his full severance entitlement stressing that the Italian never acted in the club's interest.
According to UK Sun, Conte was sent packing by Chelsea at the end last season, but both parties are currently on the warpath over a £9m payoff.
An EPL managers' arbitration tribunal is expected to sit on Conte's 'fight' with Diego Costa.
The Brazilian-born Spanish forward was offloaded to Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2017, before sacking Conte a year later.
The Italian manager Conte sent a text to Costa while on vacation and said: "you are not in my plan".
Chelsea are insisting Conte would not get his full payment as his conduct was not in the club's interests and also affected Costa's transfer value when Chelsea opted to see him.
Costa did not play for Chelsea again and after going on strike in Brazil, he was sold for £57m to ex-club Atletico Madrid
The Blues are arguing that Conte's actions directly cost them Costa's true market value.
And they will add that Conte's conduct forced them to sign £60-rated Alvaro Morata and will also show evidence how they tried to talk to Costa to have a change of heart while in Brazil.
But the striker insists he is not returning while Conte remained as boss.
Under Premier League guidelines, the parties are expected to head for arbitration as the first step towards resolving the dispute.
However, if no solution at the end, either party no satisfied can head to the High Court.
At the moment, Conte and Chelsea already have an arbitrator, with a chairman that is expected to take charge at the hearing.
Reports claim Chelsea staff members are ready to head to the court to give evidence against their former manager Conte.
On the other hand, Conte's legal representatives are likely to demand for aggravated damages, questioning why Chelsea delayed in sacking him when he would not be unable to get another job.
The Blues let go of Conte as manager after winning the Premier League and the FA Cup with 61-words and failed to say thank you at the end.
Interestingly, Chelsea have splashed out over £70m as compensation to nine different managers under Roman Abramovich 16-year reign, without heading to court room.
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