‘Real pulled plug on Morata’

REAL MADRID stopped Alvaro Morata joining Manchester United, it has sensationally been claimed in Spain.

United completed the signing of Romelu Lukaku last week in a £75million deal with Everton.

While Jose Mourinho is a big fan of Alvaro Morata – it was he who gave the Spaniard his Real Madrid debut – it was thought United dropped their interest to go for Lukaku instead.

United’s move for the Belgian hitman stunned Morata, who had told pals he was signing on at Old Trafford.

But now Spanish radio programme El Transistor are claiming it was Real Madrid who pulled the plug on a deal. They say Real Madrid were nervous about letting a player of Morata’s quality go and the deal was called off at the last moment.

That hasn’t stopped other clubs circling, though, with Chelsea still keen to take the striker to Stamford Bridge.

It’s also been claimed in Spain that Morata was offered a £10m-a-year deal by United to convince him to sign.

For his part, Mourinho has claimed that United were priced out of a move for Morata by Real Madrid before signing Romelu Lukaku from Everton.

United were only willing to go as high as £60m for the Spaniard but Real Madrid wanted around £75m as they looked to fund a move for Monaco forward Kylian Mbappe.

“Yes, we have had interest, that is obvious and it’s public. We have not come to an economic agreement, that is obvious as well. But it’s a Real Madrid’s right to ask for their players the amount of money that they want.

“We do not determine what the price is of a player of Real Madrid, Real Madrid do that.

“And we didn’t arrive at an agreement with Real Madrid. I do not criticise Madrid and I am not going to criticise my board because my board has made the offer, and they have tried to reach an agreement during a time, and they didn’t come to an agreement. It’s simple.”

While a move to United now appears unlikely, Mourinho is still keen to add to his squad.

He’s sold Wayne Rooney and Adnan Januzaj this week and is known to not be satisfied over his striking options. – Express Sport