CHELSEA HAVE AGREED a deal with Real Madrid to sign Alvaro Morata, the club have confirmed.
A statement released by the club on Wednesday evening read:
“Chelsea Football Club and Real Madrid have agreed terms for the transfer of Alvaro Morata to Stamford Bridge.
“The move is now subject to him agreeing personal terms and passing a medical.”
The 24-year-old Spanish striker had been the subject of Manchester United’s attention for much of the summer before José Mourinho and co, having been rebuffed by Real Madrid on more than one occasion, turned their attention to subsequent big-money recruit Romelu Lukaku – who himself had been heavily linked with a return to Chelsea.
The transfer merry-go-round now looks set to reach a relatively amicable conclusion for all parties, with Morata seemingly bound for Stamford Bridge for a fee reported to be in the region of £70m, having previously worked under Antonio Conte at Juventus.
In spite of his brief stint in Turin, the young Spaniard went down in Juve folklore: Morata netted against then-former club Real Madrid in a Champions League semi-final, repeating the feat against his boyhood mortal enemy Barcelona in the final.
A season later, he was at it again in the Champions League, bagging a stunner on the turn at Manchester City in the group stages before torching Bayern in Bavaria – one particularly memorable run from deep culminating in a masterful reverse pass to Juan Cuadrado, who did the rest. Later that season he scored an extra-time winner in Juventus’ 1-0 Coppa Italia final victory over AC Milan.
He netted 15 league goals for Real Madrid last season, with the majority of his appearances coming from the bench.
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