• Blues want £40m striker before Spain kick off in Euros
Chelsea are to step up their attempts to sign
Álvaro Morata from Juventus and hope to make progress this week before the start of the European Championship.
Morata, capped nine times by Spain, is a long-standing target for Antonio Conte after initially being lined up to join him at Juventus in the summer of 2014, only for the manager to take up the reins of Italy’s national team. The forward subsequently moved to the Turin club from Real Madrid regardless, on a five-year contract, and Conte has asked his new employers to secure the 23-year-old’s services as he seeks to bolster Chelsea’s attacking ranks.
The deal is complicated by the fact that Real intend to activate a £23m buy-back clause in the player’s contract, albeit only with a view to selling him on immediately at a profit. The European champions would seek nearer to £40m for him.
Juventus signed Morata in 2014 rather than targeting Romelu Lukaku – another player Conte would like to pursue this summer – and he has since scored 27 goals in two title-winning seasons in Serie A. The Spaniard can feature as a lone forward or in a partnership, and had attracted interest from the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United only for those clubs to switch their attentions, for now, to Jamie Vardy and Zlatan Ibrahimovic respectively.
Chelsea have prioritised his arrival having released Radamel Falcao and Alexandre Pato to their parent clubs, Monaco and Corinthians respectively, after underwhelming loan spells. Loïc Rémy is also likely to depart before the new campaign, and Atlético Madrid have not given up hope of re-signing Diego Costa, even if it expected Chelsea will resist that interest.
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