Vicente del Bosque has confirmed that he has not dropped striker Diego Costa due to disciplinary issues. Instead, the Chelsea striker is not being included in the squad for the friendlies against Italy and Romania due to fitness issues.

The striker has been in fine goalscoring form for Chelsea. The striker has come up with five goals and four assists in his last 10 matches for Chelsea. At the same time, he has also picked up three yellow cards and has been sent off once. Many believe that he is unhappy at Chelsea and is trying to engineer a move back to Atletico Madrid in the summer.

In the past, Costa has struggled to replicate his goal scoring form with clubs at international level. Since making his debut for Spain in 2014, the Brazil born striker has managed only one goal in 10 appearances for the national team. At a time when Spain are struggling to reclaim their former glory days, this is not the kind of return that manager del Bosque is looking from his strikers. The former Real Madrid manager, however, has not closed to the door on Costa being included the Euro 2016 squad. Spain are in the group containing Czech Republic, Turkey, and Croatia.

"[He is not in the squad] mainly for health reasons. Against Paris Saint-Germain, Diego was replaced with a muscle injury. Four days after he surprisingly played (in the FA Cup against Everton) because Chelsea had a lot of to play in that game. They forced him to play and ended with little niggles. It looks like their doctors had claimed he is improving but we have decided not to include him in the squad. Those are the main reasons," said the Spain manager. Costa made only three appearances for the national team in 2015.