Alvaro Morata to Juventus is starting to pick up pace once again in Italy, with Corriere dello Sport dedicating a solid amount of column inches to the story on Friday.
According to the Italian newspaper, the Chelsea striker is open to a return to Italy for a number of reasons.
Firstly, he’s struggled to adapt to the physical game in the Premier League, which is hard to disagree with, looking far more uncomfortable at Stamford Bridge than he ever did at Real Madrid and Juventus.
Second on the list is the uncertainty surrounding the future Chelsea manager, with Antonio Conte heavily linked with an exit, and there’s no guarantee the next man in the dugout will be as fond of the Spanish forward as the former Juventus head coach was.
As well as having kept in touch with some of his old teammates, there’s also his personal situation to take into account, with his wife not exactly against returning to her home country, ‘especially now the two are about to become parents’.
Taking all this into account, Morata is said to be ‘intently considering the possibility of a new Italian sporting life’.
It also helps Juventus would welcome him back with open arms, despite their usual reluctance to see former players return.
However, life isn’t that easy, meaning there’s a problem, and when it comes to Morata, it’s 100% financial.
Chelsea are unlikely to want to lose any money on their €80m investment, meaning Juventus will probably have to help them get their money back.
While not impossible (they did spend €90m on Gonzalo Higuain), it’s certainly a tall hurdle.
Let’s say they do decide to throw all their money at Chelsea, there’s also the issue of the Spaniard’s €8m/year wage, which is a whole lot more than Juventus would be willing to pay him.
As Corriere dello Sport put it, it’s a difficult deal to pull off, maybe even impossible, but a lot will come down to how much Morata wants the move.
If there’s a will, there’s normally a way.
