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What’s the story?
After a fresh injection of cash, fallen giants AC Milan are ready to dust themselves off and return to the big stage. In this endeavour, they are likely to go in for a umber of big money signings this year – and it’s all set to start with Real Madrid’s on-fire Alvaro Morata. The Spanish striker is valued at around €63 million by the newly crowned Champions of La Liga, and will be desperate to make a move to a club where he can get regular first-team action.
While he had been heavily linked with a number of Premier League clubs, most notably Chelsea, reputed Spanish daily Marca reports that it’s AC Milan who are closest to pulling off the deal
In case you didn’t know
Morata enjoyed great success in Italy the last time around and will be keen to get back to the familiar environs of Serie A. In his two years at Juventus, he scored 27 goals – his best performance coming against a heavily fancied Bayern Munich in the Champions League. He won two Scudetti and two Coppa Italia crowns at the club whilst also finishing runner-up to Barcelona in the Champions League.
In a delicious twist of fate, Morata’s last goal in Italy? In the Coppa Italia... against AC Milan.
The heart of the matter
Alvaro Morata has been in great goalscoring form this season, bagging 15 goals in La Liga (at an incredible 84 mins per goal), 2 in the Copa del Rey and 3 in the Champions League (the latter’s mainly because he never starts in Europe) and his credentials have been well established. It does, however, not look good for the Spaniard with Karim Benzema still the firm favourite of both coach and president, and Madrid already on the look-out for new strikers (several reports suggest Monaco have already been approached for their sensational Kylian Mbappe)
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Author’s Take
AC Milan are a team desperate to redeem themselves and having guaranteed themselves a place in the Europa League (after a major absence from continental competition) and they are on the slow, but steady, climb back up the pantheon. Any footballer who helps speed up the process will go down in footballing folklore as a hero, and as big as the risks are, the immense potential of carving your name into the history of one of the greatest clubs in the world could simply prove far too alluring for the Spaniard.
