What Does The Future Hold For Morata?

Alvaro Morata

 

Alvaro Morata has been subject to more scrutiny than any other player in the Chelsea squad since he became the club's record £58 million signing last summer.

 

The former Real Madrid man, who could potentially cost £70m in add-ons, started the season well with eight goals in eight games, seeming to suggest he may compete for the Premier League Golden Boot.

 

However, his form has been patchy since that impressive start as he stuttered in January, which had a knock-on impact on Chelsea's form. A 12-game goal drought and a run of yellow cards saw onlookers speculate that there was something wrong with the 25-year-old, but he rebounded slightly with two goals in April. 

 

Here is the story of what to expect in the immediate future for Morata.

IS MORATA HAPPY AT CHELSEA?

 

Goal has spoken to several sources around Morata throughout the season who have consistently assured that he is determined to make a success of the investment that the west London club have made in him.

 

However, it must be noted that his body language both on and off the pitch in 2018 has shown the Spain international to have some frustrations with how his season is going. That negative body language is something that happened in his time at Juventus and it appears to have returned in London.

 

Morata was unhappy to be left out by Spain in the March international friendlies and now he faces a battle to return for the World Cup, despite helping fire Julen Lopetegui's side to the tournament in the qualifiers.

 

Lopetegui remains a fan of Morata but a World Cup omission may be a factor that affects the striker's feelings about his current environment.

 

ARE CHELSEA HAPPY WITH MORATA?

 

Chelsea feel that Morata's downturn in form is largely due to a back injury that he had been playing with throughout a busy winter period, before the club gave him time off to get treatment in February.

 

Morata isn't going to be sold off quickly just because he has had a difficult run as he bids to return to form. Morata is only one goal from matching Didier Drogba's total from each of the Ivorian's first two seasons at Chelsea after the Blues made a similarly big investment. 

 

There is still a feeling that Morata can come good and the Spaniard would have to force his own exit from the club, as Chelsea are never keen to take a loss on players.

 

The club are currently witnessing former players Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Romelu Lukaku perform well at rival clubs and they won't want to make the same mistake with Morata.

 

HOW WILL CONTE'S FUTURE AFFECT MORATA?

 

Antonio Conte has always been a huge fan of Morata and he paved the way for his move to Juventus from Real Madrid back in 2014. Morata ended up playing under Massimiliano Allegri after the €20m move to Juventus, as Conte left for the Italy national team.

 

Conte then joined Chelsea and tried to sign Morata for two consecutive summers, even having a conversation directly with the frontman to attempt to convince him to sign. However, Morata first ended up back at Real Madrid due to their buy-back clause, before moving the Chelsea.

 

The absence of Conte will affect all of Chelsea's players and there will be winners and losers. It is true that Conte wants to see Morata 'become one of the best' strikers in the world, but he may not be the one to make it happen as his future remains in doubt.

 

Conte has chosen to leave out Morata in several games recently with Olivier Giroud providing good competition, but there's little to suggest that the Italian would ever block his pathway to becoming the main man once again.

                                         

The power of a Chelsea head coach is somewhat limited though as they don't have the ability to conduct transfers and instead can only make recommendations to the board, who represent the interests of the owner Roman Abramovich.

 

This means that Chelsea could push for their head coach to get the best out of Morata, rather than cut him loose and there's certainly a feeling within the club at the moment that the striker can come good.

 

ARE ANY CLUBS INTERESTED IN SIGNING MORATA?

 

If Chelsea decide to sell Morata then Juventus will be the front runners for many reasons. Firstly, Juventus CEO Beppe Marotta admitted that his club wouldn't miss the chance to re-sign their old striker.

 

"A return for Pogba or Morata? I don't believe in returning horses, but there are exceptions," Marotta explained to Mediaset Premium. 

 

Secondly, Juventus were disappointed to see Morata go back to Madrid but the presence of the Liga side's buy-back clause forced their hand. Thirdly, Morata feels at home in Italy and married Alice Campello near her hometown in Venice ahead of his move to the Premier League.

                                         

There will be other suitors emerging if Chelsea decided to sell him, but if that decision were made then they would certainly want to make a profit. That would massively limit the market to a small group of clubs for his services – and perhaps to no clubs at all.