Alvaro Morata has outgrown his surroundings, expect him at Chelsea next season
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Published 24/03/2017 at 15:01 GMT
Alvaro Morata and Vitolo have both outgrown their surroundings, writes Pete Jenson, and they could soon be strutting their stuff in the Premier League.
Alvaro Morata
Image credit: AFP
Spare a thought for the editors of Spain’s main four football papers this week. Filling 40 pages a day with Spain’s home game with Israel was a tough call especially for the Catalan titles who know half their readers have only one concern when it comes to Julen Lopetegui’s team – that Andres Iniesta doesn’t get injured.
Transfer speculation is the only thing that can fill the gaps. On Wednesday it was revealed Barcelona thought Kylian Mbappé was decent.
By Thursday someone had asked Florentino Perez if he wants to sign him enough times to provoke the underwhelming answer: “Everything is possible in life. But we don’t talk about players who don’t belong to Madrid.”
However, there do look to be two players in the current Spain squad who will be definitely moving this summer. Both have outgrown their surroundings.
Vitolo Machín and Alvaro Morata will represent Spain this evening against Israel as Sevilla and Real Madrid players.
But when La Roja plays its next competitive fixture on June 11 the pair will be ‘going-going’ and they will be long ‘gone’ by the time they face Italy on September 2.
The Premier League beckons for Morata. He was close to a Chelsea move last summer but wanted to give the marriage to Madrid one more chance. It has not worked out.
His goals-per-minutes ratio is as good as anyone else in La Liga but Karim Benzema remains the apple of president Florentino Perez’s eye and Cristiano Ronaldo has edged closer to finishing his career as a centre-forward and those two factors have left little room for a player who is adored by Antonio Conte, the coach he will most likely be playing for next season.
Real Madrid want Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois. They might not get them both but they are ready to try to and Morata will be used towards that end.
Vitolo was linked with Barcelona this week. They want a winger and he has been the Spanish League’s finest this season.
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Sevilla's midfielder Vitolo celebrates after scoring a goal during the Spanish league football match Sevilla FC vs Malaga CF at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Sevilla on December 17, 2016.
Image credit: AFP
He has a 40m euros buy-out clause however and with Gerard Deulofeu available cheap, courtesy of an 12million euros buy-back clause from Everton, the Sevilla man might be priced out of a Camp Nou switch.
Diego Simone is a big fan and Atletico Madrid are hopeful of getting their transfer ban over-turned in time for the summer window. But Sevilla will favour Premier League money if they can get it.
Vitolo was frank in an interview last year, saying: “Sevilla sell a lot of players; that’s the policy of the club and it has brought them success. Other clubs, when they sell, the team’s performances drops but at Sevilla it has always gone well for them.”
He was paving a way out of the Sanchez Pizjuan and it’s a road that could lead all the way to the Premier League with Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola all admirers of a player who has all the technical ability you would expect from La Liga’s finest but an engine built for the Premier League.
Vitolo has started in all four qualifiers under new coach Lopetegui and is expected to line-up alongside David Silva and Andres Iniesta just behind Diego Costa for Spain this evening.
One of the reasons Morata wants to leave Madrid is that his limited first team starts affect his international career and more evidence of that should come with him being over-looked for Costa at El Molinon.
He is more likely to start next week in Paris when Spain play France in a prestigious friendly. He might even line-up alongside Pedro Rodriguez.
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Chelsea's Spanish midfielder Pedro warms up before the English Premier League football match between Stoke City and Chelsea at the Bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, central England on March 18, 2017.
Image credit: AFP
After his remarkably uncharacteristic outburst at Euro 2016 - “It’s not worth coming just to make up the numbers,” he said after being left on the bench – he is back in the bosom of the national team having said that he has learned from his mistake.
Full redemption might have to wait until the Stade De France and if Morata is indeed left out on Friday and unleashed on Tuesday then it might be a taste of two-thirds of the Chelsea forward line next season.
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