(Football news) Former Real Madrid academy graduate Alvaro Morata is one step away from completing a move to FC Barcelona. The move will make Real Madrid fans hate Morata even more than they do right now.
Morata's career trajectory is a rather interesting one. As a kid the Spaniard started at the Atletico Madrid academy before moving to Getafe and eventually settling at Real Madrid's La Fabrica. He managed to break through to the first team under Jose Mourinho. He became a first team member under Carlo Ancelotti as Karim Benzema's understudy. He replaced Benzema in the 2014 UCL final for the final 10 minutes of regular time and then played extra time as well.
Next season he moved to Juventus in search of a starting position. In the UCL semi final he scored a goal against his former club and knocked Real Madrid out. After impressive performances for Juventus and a very good Euro 2016 with Spain, Real Madrid triggered the buy back clause to bring Morata back to the Bernabeu. In the 2016/17 season, Real Madrid won the La Liga and the Champions League, Morata was the 2nd highest goalscorer behind Cristiano Ronaldo as he scored 30 goals in all competitions. Despite being so prolific, Morata was always behind Benzema in the pecking order due to the Frenchman's link up with Ronaldo.
Morata secured a £60 million move to Chelsea the following season and he started well, scoring 10 goals by the end of the year including a hat-trick away at Stoke City. The turn of the year proved to be the start of Morata's doom. He scored only 6 goals in the next year missing way too many sitters and eventually moved to Atletico Madrid in January 2020. The move enraged Real Madrid fans who had been affectionate to Morata. The Spaniard said things like Atlético is his original home and he was most happy at Juventus and never wanted to come back to Real Madrid but couldn't neglect the contractual stipulation.
After not doing anything special with the Rojiblancos he went back to Juventus and once again linked up with Cristiano Ronaldo. Now Morata has been linked with a move to FC Barcelona which will make the 2nd player after Bernd Schuster to play for Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. At Barcelona, Morata will bring his physical presence into play. He is still 29 years of age and still has a few years left. Morata has already played with a lot of Barcelona players with Spain so settling into the side won't be a problem. Xavi will have to handle him carefully as he needs a particular system to flourish him. Morata along with Ferran Torres will definitely make Barcelona a better team and looking at their league position they need to be much better than they have been so far.
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