Morata ready to make a bolt for Barcelona
ALVARO MORATA could end his nightmare at Chelsea with a surprise move to Barcelona.
The Spanish striker’s agents are trying to engineer a move away from Stamford Bridge – and intermediaries have made contact with the Spanish club about a possible deal in January.
Morata has scored seven times for Chelsea this season in all competitions, after 15 in his first season for the Blues.
But the £65million striker, brought in to replace the rugged Diego Costa, has struggled with the physicality of the English game and his confidence has dipped.
Morata has real pedigree: in between two spells at Real Madrid he had two successful seasons at Juventus.
But coping with life in the Premier League has been a struggle and it has all turned rather sour. He is no longer able to hold down a regular place in the Chelsea team under new manager Maurizio Sarri, who has preferred to call on the experience of Frenchman Olivier Giroud in recent games.
Barcelona need cover for their former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, who is having stem cell treatment for a knee problem. There are doubts about his long-term fitness for the second half of the season. Munir El Haddadi has proven
ineffective as a back-up to Suarez so far this season, while Paco Alcacer has been allowed to complete a permanent £22m move to Borussia Dortmund.
Meanwhile, Morata, 26, desperately wants regular football.
Chelsea will want to make their money back but Sarri, after a relatively low spend by the club’s standards in the summer, is keen to continue the re-shaping of his team and wants to move players on to make room for new signings. Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani is a player Sarri admires but the potential £40m fee for a 31-year-old is unlikely to get the go-ahead.
Chelsea are also interested in Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi, 25, but the £97m escape clause in his contract would be even more of a problem.
The highly-rated Pole Krzysztof Piatek, 23, of Genoa, who cost the Italian club only £3.5m when they signed him from Cracovia this year, would be a much cheaper option.
Lyon’s Nabil Fekir, 25, is another who has been monitored.
Morata has also been linked with a move to AC Milan but that is a switch that would probably only happen in the summer. That is when Gonzalo Higuain could end his loan spell at the club and return to Juventus.
Chelsea are set to move other players on in January, with England defender Gary Cahill looking in other directions and winger Victor Moses another attracting interest from clubs, including his former side Crystal Palace. And as Express Sport reported on Tuesday, the club are already looking for replacements for Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who is a target for AC Milan. Barcelona’s Denis Suarez, 24, is on Chelsea’s radar as well as the highly-rated Nicolo Barella, 21, of Cagliari.