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Chelsea’s interest in signing Alvaro Morata last summer was no secret. There were daily reports in Spain about Chelsea’s interest in the player and at one point it was thought a deal was close, but Madrid decided to keep the striker with them for the current season and promised him his fair share of games.

Should there have been any doubt about Chelsea’s attempts to sign Morata those doubts were cast aside when the player himself confirmed there had been a huge bid from Chelsea, something which had pleased him but not to the stage he demanded the move.

Since then things have gone as expected and Morata isn’t Real Madrid’s number one striker. Marca explain on Sunday the Spaniard has only played in 35% of the minutes on offer at Real Madrid.

Karim Benzema remains a darling of both Zinedine Zidane and president Florentino Perez, even if that seems odd at times. Marca point out that Perez said earlier this week: “Karim is the best nine in the world. If it were down to me he would stay in Madrid all his life. I am very Screen Shot 2017-03-26 at 10.39.56happy with Benzema.”

That’s a clear message to Morata.

Marca say Antonio Conte is insisting on the signing to Roman Ambramovich, and Chelsea are set to offer €65m, around £56m.

From Morata’s perspective Chelsea is said to be an attractive destination because of Conte’s faith in him and the Spanish group of players already at the club.