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What’s the story?
Reports in reputed Spanish daily, Marca, indicate that although AC Milan appeared destined to be Alvaro Morata’s destination, Jose Mourinho has thrown a last-gasp spanner in the works by giving his former club, Real Madrid, a counter offer. This whole development stems from Los Blancos’ incessant pursuit of United superstar David de Gea. With Mourinho not wanting to sell for anything below 75 million Euros, this might come as a deal that is appeasing to both parties – he has apparently asked for Morata + 25 million Euros
In case you didn’t know
David de Gea hasn’t played the last three matches for Manchester United, incl. the last game of the Premier League season and, more importantly, the Europa League final. Whereas Mourinho has attributed that to giving Joel Perreira a run-out and trusting Sergio Romero with the job he started (the Argentine has played in all of United’s Europa League matches) respectively, Madrid’s interest in De Gea is a well-known fact and this may have been a result of that.
For those not in the know of how amazing the keeper has been over the past few seasons, here’s a compilation:
The heart of the matter
Alvaro Morata was promoted from the youth ranks of Real Madrid Castilla into the senior team by Jose Mourinho himself and the coach appears to be impressed with the young Spaniard’s progression over the years and while he might have just featured 17 times over the Portuguese’ three year reign but it must be noted that Morata went out on loan to Juventus only a year after Mourinho’s departure.
Video
For those who don’t quite know what Morata is capable of:
Author’s Take
Let’s face it, David de Gea is irrepleacable. The man who was Manchester United’s best player of the season three-times-running (Ander Herrera broke that spell this time around) has saved so many points for his side, it’s brought back memories of Peter Schmiechel’s influence in his heyday.
Jose Mourinho, then, will be desperate to keep ahold of his key man but being the eternal pragmatist, will be well aware that the lures of Florentino Perez, Real Madrid, and the hometown itself are simply too hard to resist for most and if he is to lose one of his biggest superstars, this may be Mourinho’s way of creating some value out of it.
Morata is an excellent striker when put in teams that focus on the counterattack and his underrated ability to draw pressure by making runs and keeping the ball can prove highly beneficial to the kind of strategies that Mourinho usually prefers to employ
