Chelsea nets Morata as Conte signs new deal

AFEW days after their manager, Antonio Conte agreed to extend his contract with reigning English champions, Chelsea, the club has announced the capture of Real Madrid striker, Alvaro Morata.

The 24-year-old reportedly cost around £70m, which eclipses the £50m Chelsea paid Liverpool for Fernando Torres in 2011. Morata scored 20 goals for Real last season after rejoining Los Blancos from Juventus, although the majority of his appearances for Zinedine Zidane’s side were as a substitute. Chelsea have been in the market for a striker since losing out to Manchester United and former manager Jose Mourinho on the capture of Romelu Lukaku. The 24-year-old joined the 20-time top-flight champi- ons from Everton for an initial £75m.

Blues boss Antonio Conte, who signed a new two-year contract at Stamford Bridge earlier this week, began the summer by telling hitman Diego Costa that he longer figured in his plans and was free to find himself another club.

Morata is the club’s fourth signing of the transfer window following the arrival of midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko, goalkeeper Willy Caballero and defender Antonio Rudiger.

Chelsea are in China and Singapore on our pre-season tour of Asia, where they will face Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. Conte said of his new deal: “I am very happy to have signed a new contract with Chelsea. We worked extremely hard in our first year to achieve something amazing, which I am very proud of. Now we must work even harder to stay at the top. “The Chelsea fans have given me so much support since I arrived here one year ago and it is important we continue to succeed together.”

Club director Marina Granovskaia added: “Antonio achieved incredible success last season, adapting to English football very quickly and leading us to the Premier League title.