Chelsea
Striker Confirms He Received An Offer From Man Utd Before Sealing £58m Move
Alvaro Morata has confirmed Manchester United tried to lure him to Old Trafford before he sealed a £58m move to Chelsea during the summer window
The transfer window is now closed but clubs are already thinking ahead to January and next summer so we’ll bring you all the latest gossip from around the globe. Today, Alvaro Morata confirms talks with Man Utd….
Alvaro Morata has confirmed Manchester United tried to lure him to Old Trafford before he sealed a £58m move to Chelsea during the summer window, according to the Daily Mail.
Morata was looking to leave Real Madrid after struggling to establish himself in Zinedine Zidane’s starting eleven having rejoined the La Liga giants from Juventus in 2016.
The 24-year-old was handed just 16 starts last season with Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale all well ahead of him in the pecking order so Morata was forced to look for a move in search of regular action.
The Spanish international was strongly linked with a move to Man Utd during the early stages of the summer as Jose Mourinho looked to bring in a top class striker having lost Zlatan Ibrahimovic to a serious knee injury.
Morata knows Mourinho well from their time together at Real Madrid and it was the Portuguese coach who handed the striker his first team debut at the European champions.
Morata has now confirmed that he did receive an offer from United and held talks with Mourinho about a move to Old Trafford at a time when he was unsure of Chelsea’s interest at the start of the summer.
However, once he learned that the Blues were keen to sign him, Morata claims he did everything to ensure he linked-up with Antonio Conte again having enjoyed a brief time with him at Juventus.
When asked about holding talks with Mourinho, Morata is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail:
‘Yes. I had various offers this summer, not only Chelsea and Manchester United but also from different leagues. It was a good situation for me. The most important and best conversation I had was with Conte, he wanted me to come here. At the start of the summer, I didn’t know that Chelsea were interested in me. I thought they were in for a different player ….‘Maybe Lukaku or maybe someone else, I don’t know.”
‘But I spoke with Conte several times – and not only this summer. I felt in debt to him. He signed me for Juventus but left very quickly to manage Italy. I always wanted to play for him after that. It was only two months with him but it felt like I’d known him forever. When I knew he wanted me this summer, I didn’t think twice. I did everything I could to make the move happen.”
Morata has enjoyed a solid start to life in west London having provided 3 goals and 2 assists in his 4 Premier League appearances so I’m sure Mourinho will have been disappointed to miss out.
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However, he won’t be too upset as United ended up signing Romelu Lukaku and the Belgian international has also enjoyed a stunning start to his Old Trafford career having scored 6 goals in his 6 games so far.
