Conte wants Mor
Chelsea to make £70mil bid for Real striker
LONDON:
Chelsea will make a £ 70mil (RM387mil) bid for Alvaro Morata, according to reports in Spain.
As SunSport exclusively revealed in January, the Real Madrid ace is Antonio Conte’s ideal striker. But he looked set to move to Manchester United this summer.
However, the Red Devils were priced out and decided to move for Romelu Lukaku instead – a player Chelsea thought they had in the bag.
AS reported the Blues will now turn back to Morata, and will bid around £70mil.
The 24-year-old was always Conte’s firstchoice, but the Chelsea hierarchy preferred Lukaku.
The offer would be less than the £80mil (RM442mil) Real Madrid had quoted United for Morata.
But, it would be better structured to suit the needs of Los Blancos.
The reigning European champions want to free up funds to make a world-record bid for Kylian Mbappe this summer. For his part, Morata would have no problem agreeing a deal at Chelsea.
Conte was the mastermind behind his move from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2014.
The three-time Serie A-winning manager had been a long-term admirer – but the pair never worked together as Italy came calling for the current Blues boss. Morata currently earns £100,000 (RM553,000)-a-week at Real Madrid.
And he would likely see a significant increase at Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s current No. 1 striker Diego Costa could get his dream return to Atletico Madrid, via a spell at Besiktas until January, according to reports in Spain.
The Spain international received a text message from Conte telling him he was not part of his future plans at Chelsea.
And, despite incredible amounts of money on offer from Chinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjian, the 28-year-old has his heart set on a return to Atletico.
But the La Liga side are unable to register new players until January after FIFA upheld a transfer ban for the illegal signing of minors.
However, AS reported a solution could be found with the striker moving to Besiktas until the start of 2018.
Costa would then return to Atletico, having played competitive football throughout the season immediately preceding the World Cup.
A recent Instagram post by the Chelsea ace was inundated with messages from fans of the Turkish club, writing: “Come to Besiktas.”
Costa is a hero among Atletico fans, having helped the club win the title in 2014 and reach the Champions League final, before joining Chelsea. In England, he was been a Premier League champion in two of his three seasons.
And he scored 20 goals in both of the title-winning campaigns.
However, Costa fell out with Conte after flirting with a move to Tianjin in January.