When Chelsea signed Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, fans were convinced that he would be the missing piece of the puzzle that would help them to retain the Premier League title and even challenge for the Champions League.
After seeing a few glimpses of what he was capable of, Morata went on to have a fairly dismal season at Stamford Bridge. With eleven goals to his name, team mate Eden Hazard beat him in the goal-scoring charts and Chelsea brought in Olivier Giroud in January to boost their firepower up front.
Prior to the move, people questioned why Morata had not made the grade at Real Madrid, Chelsea fans soon found out why. There were games where he looked completely out of his depth, with minimum levels of participation and no signs of him being close to scoring a goal.
Morata did not justify the £60 million fee
He looked unhappy on the pitch for the large part of the season, which ended with Chelsea missing out on qualifying for the Champions League after finishing in fifth place. Many fans pointed the finger at Conte but when you pay out £60 million for a star striker, you expect them to turn up in the big games. It will not have helped that Chelsea’s former player Mo Salah set the Premier League alight after Chelsea had deemed him not good enough just a few seasons previous.
Morata missed out on Spain’s World Cup squad
Whilst Salah was prolific and gained adoration from his home fans, Morata seemed to rue the day he signed for the Blues. A poor season ensured that he did not make the Spain squad for the World Cup, with former Liverpool failure Iago Aspas getting rewarded for his 22 goals in La Liga with a place on the plane to Russia.
Where next for Morata?
Morata is meeting with his agent to look at his options, with Chelsea said to be happy for him to go provided they recoup the money they spent on him. However, after his form last season, there might not be too many teams queuing up to pay that kind of price for a striker that only just hit double figures in the league last season
