Alvaro Morata has once again spoken about his brief time at AC Milan, including regrets about joining the club and the circumstances that led to his exit.
After Olivier Giroud’s exit following the expiry of his contract, the Milan management initially wanted to invest in Joshua Zirkzee before Manchester United offered a bigger package and won the race to sign him.
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As a result they turned to Morata, someone who has won virtually everything there is in European football, an experienced option who should have provided guarantees in terms of his leadership and winning mentality.
He cost around €13m, which was his release clause at Atletico Madrid. However, the Spaniard scored just six goals in 25 games and in January he pushed for an exit, joining Galatasaray on an initial loan while the Rossoneri invested in Santiago Gimenez.
Morata spoke during the ‘El Larguero’ segment on Cadena SER and explained why he thinks joining Milan was the right move, and how he ended up with the Turkish champions. Calciomercato.com relayed his comments.
Do you regret joining Milan?
“I think last summer I should have thought more about whether or not to leave Atletico Madrid. When you don’t feel good at a certain point in your life, you make bad decisions in every aspect. Things can’t be changed now and today I’m very happy.
“If I could go back, I probably wouldn’t have made that decision. Today I realise that I wasn’t able to see reality. We were champions of Europe and at Atletico there were more and more people who loved me and understood me.”
Why did you choose Milan?
“When you go through difficult times, you see things in a grey light even if you have people around you who love you and tell you that you are wrong. During the European Championships this thing bothered me, then the opportunity of Milan presented itself.
“The coach [Paulo Fonseca] called me every day, I needed to feel loved and appreciated. Today, looking back, I realise that Simeone loved me too. My father and my agent told me that I was wrong.”
Could you end up in Saudi Arabia?
“I can’t say anything, I don’t know what the future holds for me. Maybe I will have the opportunity to return to another big team that needs an experienced striker.”
What is it like at Galatasaray?
“The rivalry between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce is much more heated and bigger than those between Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid-Barcelona. I have never seen anything like it. A foreign referee arrived to referee the derby, there were more than 30,000 policemen in the stadium.
“It was incredible. I would like to stay here for a long time but they must also want me to stay. I am very happy, they treat me very well and with affection. At the moment I have a contract until next January. I have adapted well, but I also have a contract with Milan.”
A quality player with serious insecurity issues. Has the talent but lacks the mentality to become his best version.
It still could have worked out if the atmosphere in our own house wasn’t that toxic, but it wasn’t meant to be and to be honest I don’t think we needed another person we should pamper to make him feel comfortable. We have our own Theao.
Hahaha… Nice one mate.
If he shows the quality, Milan don’t need add more strikers, it means he cannot achieve the expectation. That’s simple.
Basically he is a coward. I told you the first week when he wrote that message about that major in Italy, he is mentally unstable and shouldn’t be anywhere close to Milan.
Yup iv always said Higuian Lukaku Moratta were potentially world class players around their respective prime years but for me they just didn’t have the mentality to reach those levels. They all had seasons where they were excellent (Hig-Nap, Luk-Int, Mor-Atl) but not consistently
Bro, Higuain scored 335 goals in 711 games in his career. That’s a goal scoring rate of 0.47.
For context, Shevchenko scored 343 in 705, for a ratio of 0.49 and F. Inzaghi scored 288 in 623 for a ration of 0.46.
Real football isn’t FIFA25. World class strikers have career goal ratios around 0.50 (1 goal every 2 games), nevermind approaching 0.60, so setting the bar any higher is unrealistic. We probably will never have one of those again. I say again, because we had one and his name was Marco van Basten, and unless we suddenly become the richest club on the planet we probably won’t have a striker like that gain.
Higuain is a world class striker by all measures, and certainly better overall than any of the ones we’ve had since Ancelotti’s team outside of Ibrahimovic.
BTW, Lukaku has 310 in 665 for a ratio of .47, so he’s world class too. Sorry.
Mr nobody ….😂
Well Mr. Morata it is a worse decision for Milan to sign you on a 5yr contract worth 4m per season. That was the mistake we made with Origi and it is apparently clear the club didn’t learn from that mistake.
So I do hope that you are sold this summer because you are not a prolific striker who can score 20+ goals per season for Milan to sign you on such a ridiculous contract.
Very poor professionalism, you don’t make public this things, serious lack of integrity and respect. He deserve to be where he’s.
Can’t say we feel differently. Some marriages are not made for each other. And hopefully Milan would have learned something from this stop start strategy of theirs. The team was long overdue for a permanent solution upfront and we went with Morata…not visionary at all.
Give the guy a break. It’s not easy moving to a new place where you don’t speak the language; it doesnt matter how seasoned a professional you are. And TBH, every time I saw him play for Milan he looked OK.
What do you mean he doesn’t speak the language?!
Italy is not a new place for him. This season was his third spell.
He has always had a weak mentality that’s why he never managed to stay put at a big club despite the sheer amount he has played for (some say his transfer between big clubs were money laundering schemes). He’s such a crybaby and while he has never been a great player, he is a good one and Turkey is more his level.
If Gala decide not to sign him permanently, then Saudi it is.
Big words from a man that’s still owned by milan. How awkward that reunion will be if they don’t extend their option to make it permanent. But he is right, you fooled milanisti into thinking you’d be a good fit to the team but what a horrible 6 months it was. I hope you don’t come back.
Morata is a whiny bi*ch. Everything he says proves what kind of a coward he is.
He has always been. It’s why I always laughed when I read on this site putting him & leadership in the same sentence.
Dude whined at Real Madrid, got sold to Chelsea, whined there as well, sold to Atletico Madrid, same story. Finally whined his way to Milan and whined his way out.
Dude thinks he’s good enough for big clubs to pamper about.
that’s right, Milan makes people regretful. That’s what the current management does.
I’d say do not join this Milan, and player at the team should leave Milan, Maldini, Adli, CDK are all better now than before.