Alvaro Morata will very soon be officially announced as an AC Milan player and he has lifted the lid on why he opted to join the club.
Milan were heavily linked with a move for Joshua Zirkzee a few weeks ago among other targets, but as that option faded Morata’s name emerged from the dust, having been mentioned as a target in several previous windows.
Things quickly moved in the right direction and although the 31-year-old gave some conflicting comments on the media, the major sources suggested that he had been convinced by a move to join the Rossoneri.
Indeed, Morata did his medical this morning before going on holiday, and will earn €5m net per year during a four-year contract, with the option of a fifth season. Due to his release clause, the Diavolo will pay a €13m fee to bring him to the club.
In what is quite a rare occurrence, Morata spoke to Sky after completing his medical and answered some questions about his decision to return to Italy, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
What convinced you about Milan?
“The trust of Zlatan, the team, the coach. I can’t wait to start. Now I’m going on vacation because I have to be with my family who helped me so much, otherwise I would train tomorrow.”
You are back in Serie A, is it a bit like coming home?
“Yes. You have treated me with incredible respect and I can’t wait to go on holiday to Italy and train with the team and get back to Serie A.”
What did Zlatan pass on to you?
“Positive things. I also know that I still have the best years of my career and I want to go to this great club that is Milan.”
Will you wear the number 9 shirt?
“I don’t know yet, we’ll see.”
“Now I’m going on vacation because I have to be with my family who helped me so much, otherwise I would train tomorrow.”
That’s the spirit.
Not only is Morata taking over Giroud role on the pitch but also the role of serious professional, great example and a leader for the rest of the squad. As a player, he is even more decorated than Giroud. He has been a winner at every level. He was a Euro champ with Spain at u19, u21, and now with the senior team.
I expect 15-20 goals from him in all competitions next season
That’s a lot. I’m expecting 10-15 goals in all competitions.
Giroud won a lot of cups with arsenal.
So 15 goals it is.
Morata has definetly won more and higher quality trophies than Giroud (with the exception of the World Cup). Although both players did benefit at some points of teams who didn’t need them a lot and you could say that slightly padded both their resumes.
I’m more excited to see what he can do with the youngsters around him. Far more mobile than Giroud in hold up play. Younger, with goals in him. But if he’s able to mentor Leao/Chuk/puli and allow them to do more on the pitch, then his signing will have been worth on on that front alone…
Good Luck to him. Excited.
He had 21 goals, and 5 assists in all competitions this last season with a top tier Atletico team. So I think 15-20 is very fair.
Well, he’s here now so let’s Get behind him. Not my choice by any means but who knows, he may find a new lease of life here and Fonseca and our players may be the perfect fit for him.
Absolutely!
Not the profile we have needed for so long to take a leap in quality.
He is however a consummate professional and I truly hope he is successful .
Bienvenuto
Exactly! I really hope he’ll be successful!
That was a quick turnaround from two days ago…
I don’t think you understand the difference between critiquing and flat out hating. You can be critical of a signing or direction of the transfer by management. But once a player is in the team, he’s ours so automatically gets support as a fan of the club. You can still criticize, but once he’s on that field it’s 100% support.
Thank you for explaining on behalf of Milan fans, not Redbird shareholders
Well said….
It’s not a turnaround at all, he is far from my first choice, but it is now what it is. You can’t hide his goalscoring, it’s 1 in 3 or 4. I said from say one Morata is ‘decent’ but I rather hoped for better than decent.:
The minute he pulls on a Milan shirt I’ll support him. This was never about whether Morata is or isn’t a great footballer, it’s expectation of what we needed . I’m not going back over the do we don’t we like/rate need Morata, he’s here…..
Wow. He actually is a great footballer.
No He isn’t..Rodri, KDB, Haaland, VvD, Salah, Lautaro, Lewandovski….they’re great footballers
“A New lease on life” LOL.
What the heck?
He’s off one of his best goal scoring seasons in his career, with many assists to go with it. 21 goals, 5 assists just this last season with Atletico and now Atletico is worrying about a replacement themselves.
Yes he definitely needs a “new lease on life”.
15 league goals in a season is not world beating is it, we got that from Giroud who’s 37…..that’s kind of the point I and many others were trying to make amidst all the Morata hysteria from you lot…it’s a sideways move, surely we are trying to make the squad better…..I also love how you all throw in the ‘in all comps’ or sometimes even add in his assists, juuuussst to get the number higher 😂
On which note, when out striker search began and we all had our ideal targets, none of you…..not a single one advanced the Morata argument, yet now all of a sudden he’s ‘world class’….did he go under your radars or something 😂😂
Spot on!
He’s ok but not my first option striker either, in this year’s mercato.
Let alone gloryfying his signing.
However, he’s a Milan player now so I’ll cheers for him.
And also rooting for Milan doesn’t mean you have to be agreeing with it’s owner /management’s ambitions, or majority of the so called fans in here
I have also come to realize that our two top targets, Zirkzee and Sesko appear not to be what we thought. Somehow, Morata is gaining more momentum and we seem to be the one laughing last.
Great signing.😔
Another former Chelsea player that misses so many goal opportunities in history ,”the other 2 is Fernando Torres and Timo Werner”.
So dream on if Milan management expect 20 goals from him this year.
He’s off one of his best goal scoring seasons, and was a crucial part of Atletico and Spain. What negativity. You must be the life of the party.
Love how you keep saying ‘one of his’ best goalscoring seasons rather than ‘a great goalscoring season’…haha the standards people aspire to…..let’s Judge him by his own standards rather than that of his peers…bravo
Anyway, if Morata scores more than 15 league goals which is where I’d expect Giroud who’s 37 to aim for I’ll take it back. He’s a Milan player now and will get supported as such.
League goals is the only reliable metric.
He had 35 in 4 seasons and 130 games for Juve.
Less than 9 per season avg.
If he breaks 10 we will be doing well.
Though I really hope Okafor can usurp him
Many people criticized about morata, please advise who is better than him please do the comparison from all aspects (leadership, attitude, spirit, professionalism, value for money, field performance statistics, etc).
Let’s try and formulate a question where the only possible answer can be Morata 😂
we already have leaders, Theo, Calabria, Mike, Bennacer. I thought our modus operandi was a goal scorer not a leader. Leaders step up at any age.
I do wonder how many posts here are AI generated….
I swear to god I genuinely believe there AI. I’ve watched football for far too long to know you don’t get excited for morata of all players.
These guys talk like we sign mbappe.
Morata is bang average at most
Thank you 👍
They are many young strikers out there,,no Milan won’t go for one
Yes and none of them were talking about Morata 6 months ago when we were talking about our next big striker…and like you say they now think we’ve got Mbappe. It’s almost like there has to be a proportionate amount of pro Redbird activity
Why morata there’s a lot of young stickers out there like gyokyress, of sporting,dvbryk of girona I don’t know what ibrahimovic is doing right now am confused 🤔
Milan please 🥺 go for young stickers