Chelsea relieved as Alvaro Morata agrees to Atletico Madrid comeback
Alvaro Morata's time with Chelsea was forgettable at best, and the London club will breath a sigh of relief now that Morata has finally made up his mind to move back to Atletico Madrid on a loan deal. Notably, Morata was a youth product of Atletico Madrid. Chelsea, meanwhile, have already secured Gonzalo Higuain in a loan deal to bolster their attack. Here's more.
Chelsea reportedly paid a whopping £60 million for Morata, a then-record for the club. Morata started his Chelsea career by missing a penalty in his very first match in the FA Community Shield. Morata has scored 16 goals in 47 league matches for Chelsea, and in total, has scored 24 goals in 72 matches for the London club.
It has been reported that since the transfer window opened, Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri had made it clear to the club that he wanted Higuain as the striker and not Morata. Sarri, under whom Higuain played at Napoli, has faith in the Argentine forward, whom he called a goal machine. Higuain, under Sarri, scored 36 goals in 35 Serie A matches in 2015-16.
It is believed that Morata will be sent to Atletico Madrid not on a permanent transfer, but on loan. However, the Madrid outfit will have the option of buying Morata for £48.5 million. The striker has also reportedly agreed to take a cut in his fees in order to sign with Atletico. Morata's current salary at Chelsea is £150,000.
Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa was having a rough time this season, and all the goalscoring responsibilities fell upon Antoine Griezmann. This, it can be believed, was the reason Atletico manager Diego Simeone decided to bring Morata into the fold.
Chelsea started the season in a brilliant fashion, but have fallen behind since then. Currently, they are 13 points off table-toppers Liverpool and are fourth on the league table. Morata and Giroud, their two strikers, have hardly managed to pose a threat to opposition defenses, which made Sarri realize that signing a new forward who would bolster their attack was of top priority.
