Real Madrid forward Alvaro Morata has seen fuel added to the fire over speculation of a move to Chelsea, after his girlfriend reportedly bought a house in the English capital.
The Spanish international returned to the Bernabeu last summer after a successful stint at Juventus in the hope that Zinedine Zidane would give him a more prominent role.
However, he has remained behind Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale for the most part, and in turn Diario Gol have reported that he is set to leave Madrid this summer with further links being made with Chelsea over a deal worth £34m.
It’s claimed that his girlfriend has already bought a house in London to help further her own career, and in turn that will only lead to intense speculation over his future and a possible move to link up with Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge.
The Italian tactician signed Morata while he was at Juventus, but he left that same summer to take charge of Italy and so missed out on the opportunity to work with the forward.
Nevertheless, it looks more and more likely that they’ll be on the same side as of next season, as the report goes on to suggest that Conte has made it clear that he wants Morata at Chelsea next season and the player is ready to admit defeat in his bid to become a figurehead for Los Blancos.
Despite his limited playing time, Morata has still managed 13 goals and four assists in 35 games. Having played 1000 minutes less than Benzema, who has scored 17, it just shows that he should surely be given bigger opportunities but Zidane seemingly doesn’t agree.
As a result, his loss could be Chelsea’s gain. Whether or not it’s a move to replace Diego Costa remains to be seen, but with European football returning to Stamford Bridge next season, Conte needs depth and Morata could be the perfect solution.
Meanwhile, the Metro claim that he might not be the only attacker to join Chelsea this summer, with Celta Vigo star Theo Bongonga admitting he wouldn’t turn a move down to join the Blues.
Although he hasn’t quite set La Liga alight this season, the 21-year-old has impressed and even though he’s barely made a decisive impact for Celta, he has already admitted that he doesn’t envisage spending his entire career with them and is looking at bigger and better things.
“If Chelsea, Manchester United or Atletico Madrid call me in the near future I should be ready to make the step up to join them.”