Giorgio Chiellini feels former teammate should start for Real Madrid

Alvaro Morata
Alvaro Morata spent his last two seasons with Juventus

Giorgio Chiellini, the Italian defender had a lot of positive comments about his now former teammate, Alvaro Morata. Real Madrid recently activated the buy-back clause they had inserted in their sale to Juventus two years ago to bring the Spaniard back to Madrid.

Juventus were keen to keep Morata in Turin, but were left with no power in the negotiations because of the clause that they had been forced to accept at the time of purchasing his rights from Madrid in 2014. Chiellini, who has been with the Bianconeri for 11 seasons now gave his thoughts on a whole range of issues in a press conference, including his feelings on Morata.

“First of all, he’s a special lad,” Chiellini said.

“I’m sorry to be greeting him as a former teammate but I’m happy for him, and I hope he can stay at Real Madrid. He deserves to be the striker for Spain and Real, I’d be disappointed if he was used as a bargaining chip. He doesn’t deserve that. I don’t see why he can’t play at Real for 10 years, he has incredible talent and a lot of room for improvement.”

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Chiellini said this in the light of the uncertainty over Morata’s future, with Real Madrid said to be seriously evaluating a range of offers for the 23-year-old player. Premier League clubs Chelsea and Arsenal are reporting to be willing to offer more than 50 million euros for a player who is one of the most widely sought after forwards in the market.

The Blancos’ own desire to keep Morata is unclear, with Cristiano Ronaldo playing more centrally and Karim Benzema still on their roster. Alvaro’s own desire to play for his hometown club has always been clear, and he’s been extremely keen on settling in Madrid.

Chiellini didn’t have any bitter feelings towards Morata, and also shared more of his experiences with him.

“Over the past two years he’s grown so much on a tactical and human level. When he arrived he was a kid, he wasn’t considered a lad for the first team. We helped him grow every day, but the credit goes to him and his great talent. I hope he feels bad after Monday, but that could help him for the rest of his career!”

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