MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- After not selecting Diego Costa for any of Chelsea's four preseason matches in 2016, manager Antonio Conte says that the Spanish striker will be available for the West London club's International Champions Cup finale vs. AC Milan on Wednesday (9:35 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
Costa has been recovering from a back injury, only returning to training on Monday. In a pre-match news conference, Conte confirmed that Chelsea's leading scorer of 2015-16 could feature.
"Diego Costa, I am very confident about his injury," Conte said. "Now he's available for [Wednesday's] game against Milan. He's available and I am very happy that I can count on him."
Earlier in the week, Conte had left Costa's future in some doubt, saying: "I speak for today and today Costa is Chelsea's player. Tomorrow if you ask me if Costa will remain with us, I don't know."
The manager refused to be drawn out on further speculation on Tuesday, saying only that "Diego Costa is Chelsea's player and he's very happy to stay with us."
One player whose future at Stamford Bridge is far more certain is N'Golo Kante, who arrived from Leicester City in a £29 million deal last month. The France international has yet to feature for the Blues, but is expected to make his debut in Conte's team vs. Milan.
"Kante is in good shape and I found him in very good condition," Conte said. "Now he's working on the tactical aspect, also the physical aspect. But right now he's in good shape.
"Tomorrow, he can play one half or 30 minutes, but he's ready. He's ready and I'm very happy to see him so ready to play."
Kante is expected to help shore up a Chelsea midfield that was repeatedly overrun in a lost 2015-16 season. The Frenchman's work rate and ability to break up play will be sorely needed in front of a defence that's still without Kurt Zouma.
Zouma missed the second half of the 2015-16 season after suffering a cruciate injury in February, and confirmed earlier this summer that he would not be ready to rejoin the team in time for the start of the 2016-17 campaign as he'd hoped, but expects to be available by the end of September.
Conte noted the French defender's improvement, but was quick to state that the club will be patient with his recovery.
"Zouma is improving. He's improving a lot. This is good news for us," Conte said. "But we know that his injury is very bad, and for this reason I think that we must respect the time, we must respect him and it's important that [Zouma] take his time to be sure, to go into the team and to stay at the end."