Chelsea Land ‘First Choice Striker’

News broke yesterday of Alvaro Morata’s agreement to join Chelsea from Real Madrid for a fee of around £70m meaning the player who was pursued in a big way by Manchester United is now joining Antonio Conte’s title holders. We will never know if Alvaro Morata was United’s first choice or if he was Chelsea’s; or if Romelu Lukaka was Chelsea’s first choice or if he was United’s. What we do know is Chelsea have signed a truly quality forward in Morata who will replace the departing Diego Costa, who is said to be on his way back to Atletico.

There is quite a buzz about Morata’s transfer to Chelsea. The Spaniard has always performed consistently well season after season. He’s a proven La Liga and Serie A striker who has never really been given the chance to lead the line at Madrid, despite his impressive goal return. Morata scored 20 goals last season after rejoining Real from Juventus, but Karim Benzema is the chosen striker at the Bernabeu and it seems only right for Morata to search for first team action as a result.

Although unproven in the Premier League, Morata has all the necessary traits in order to succeed. A relatively speedy player who grabs important goals on a constant basis, the 24-year-old has often been compared to fellow countryman David Villa.

Former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin says that fans will be “punching the air” in celebration with the signing of Alvaro Morata, saying that the Spaniard is fans’ number 1 striking target.

“It’s not the one they were left with, it’s the one they wanted, absolutely,” Nevin told BBC Radio 5 live.

“It’s beginning to look like Antonio Conte’s Chelsea side. And because he signed this new contract, it’s saying: ‘I believe in this, I want to be part of this.’ It didn’t seem like the case a couple of months ago.”

“Now, most Chelsea fans will be smiling and punching the air, much the same way that I was.”

Alvaro Morata looks set to hit the ground running considering he has won two Champions Leagues and a Laliga in Spain with Zinidine Zidane. After the signing Chelsea must be a good bet on them retaining the title which you would likely get pretty tasty odds for with the Manchester Clubs so favoured.

Morata will become Chelsea’s fourth signing of the summer, after goalkeeper Willy Caballero, defender Antonio Rudiger and midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko all put pen to paper earlier in the summer. You would expect the Blues to be adding a few more players given the toll the sheer number of games will put on the team this season with the Champions League and so on.

Nevin went on to say: “I wrote a piece on the Chelsea website about three months ago. I asked the fans: ‘Who would you like most as a centre-forward?’ There were three names that came up. Number three was Lukaku, number two was [Alexis] Sanchez, and number one? Morata.”

“I think he was the number one choice that Antonio Conte wanted.”

“I am not sure what’s going to be happening with Diego Costa. I think it’s quite unlikely he will stay with all the noises we’ve been hearing. Chelsea need a striker who can give you 15-20 goals a season. Put him in a team where you’ve got the likes of Cesc Fabregas, the likes of Eden Hazard giving you plenty of opportunities… Morata can do that.” [Quotes via BBC]