This article forms part of our Total Duds feature series, which is where Football Transfer Tavern takes a look at a player who disappointed after being signed, using statistical figures and statements from pundits to illustrate how ill-judged the transfer decision has been.
In 2017, Chelsea were looking to build on their super title success. But with frictions appearing between manager Antonio Conte and Diego Costa, the Spain striker was sent on his way – with another Spaniard taking his place at Stamford Bridge.
Alvaro Morata may have cost £60m, but with good reason – he had scored 20 goals in a rather secondary role in a team headed by Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid the year before, boasting the Spanish top flight’s best conversion rate among strikers with more than 10 goals.
Morata also had experience in Serie A with Juventus, with whom he took to the Champions League final in 2015, as his goals knocked out Real Madrid on the way.
It had seemed that wherever he went, he had showcased a natural scoring ability – and it was enough for Madrid to take him back from Juventus after two years in Turin.
But a year later, he was a Blue, and the initial signs were promising, too – scoring on his Premier League debut as a substitute against Burnley, while at hat-trick at Stoke City gave him six strikes in as many league games.
Though by the turn of the year, the goals had dried up and Chelsea’s results were on the turn, and while Conte paid for their fifth-placed finish with his job, it is the Blues’ heavy outlay which was made to look extremely excessive as the Spaniard struggled to adjust to life in England.
Those personal struggles were evidently a weight on the mind of the 27-year-old, who has become reborn as part of an Atletico Madrid side for whom he is on a red-hot goalscoring streak in more familiar surroundings, with his loan set to become permanent in the summer.
And with Chelsea’s own academy product Tammy Abraham threatening to overhaul Morata’s entire goal tally for the club in the space of one season (he is almost halfway there already), the Blues’ decision to commit to such an expensive deal is looking more and more mind-boggling with every passing week.
It may have been a case of poor timing from Morata given the downturn of the team’s fortunes after their title win, but there is no getting away from the fact that, in any case, his achievements at Stamford Bridge largely belied the extravagant fee he was originally bought for.
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Chelsea fans, who is to blame for Morata’s spell at Stamford Bridge? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
