Man Utd offered Morata: What they should learn from his Chelsea experience
Karan Tejwani
- 11 Aug 2022 11:21 BST
- 4 min read
Manchester United have been offered the chance to sign Alvaro Morata from Atletico Madrid, as they look to bolster their attacking options with the forward line currently depleted.
The Spanish forward spent the last season on loan at Juventus, and Atletico Madrid are open to letting go of the player, provided the right offer comes in.
Manchester United have failed to bring in any forwards to the team, and are currently short in that department, with Anthony Martial out injured and Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford out of form.
Cristiano Ronaldo has also made it clear he wants to leave and with about three weeks left in the window, it’s still unclear if he will play at Old Trafford for the remainder of the 2022-23 campaign.
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Man Utd can learn plenty from Morata's Chelsea spell
Morata is a player of distinct qualities – he’s widely appreciated for his work off the ball, but doesn’t have the best record for scoring goals, as evident by his previous Premier League spell.
He was last in the English top-flight with Chelsea, who he signed for in 2017, ignoring interest from Manchester United to make the move to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues ended up paying a fee of around £60 million, but his stint ended with a loan spell away and just 24 goals in 72 appearances for the club.
He had a great start at Chelsea, scoring six goals in his first six games in the 2017-18 season, but only added five more goals to his tally for the rest of the season, which was worrying.
The Spaniard did score in important moments, netting in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the FA Cup, as they won the tournament, beating Manchester United in the final.
However, he had a minimal role in the final, coming on for one minute as Antonio Conte started with Olivier Giroud up top in attack.
⚽️ Willian
⚽️ Morata
Chelsea 2-1 Bournemouth, #OnThisDay in 2017! 👏 pic.twitter.com/zddhJYAv7a— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 20, 2021
A big criticism for him was that he was too wasteful: he missed 17 big chances that season, the fourth highest in the league, behind the likes of regular scorers like Mohamed Salah and Harry Kane.
That carried on into the following campaign, as he missed 10 big chances – the sixth-highest in the league that season, until his loan move back to Madrid.
There was also a widespread feeling that he often crumbled under pressure, and sulked after missing chances, with many asking for him to show more personality after setbacks.
Morata had better returns after going to Atletico Madrid and Juventus, and while his link-up play and teamwork is recognised, it only works if the team has other outlets for goals.
Recent records have shown United’s attackers don’t have great goal outputs or contributions, and adding Morata to that may not be the best option for them this summer, as they have big ambitions for the next few years.
