Arsenal Close In On Surprise Deal For Former Chelsea Flop

Arsenal are closing in on a deal to sign former Chelsea flop Alvaro Morata.

Sport have reported that the London club are ‘very close’ to signing the Spanish international in a deal worth around £25 million.

The forward has been on loan at Juventus for two years from Atletico Madrid, but the Old Lady are not taking up their £30m option to buy.

Morata has scored just 20 goals since his move from the Spanish capital, and Mikel Arteta seems keen to snap up the journeyman to fill the void of strikers at the Emirates Stadium.

Eddie Nketiah is set to leave the Gunners despite the offer of a new deal, Alexandre Lacazette is leaving the club on a free transfer and the fate of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is in Barcelona’s hands.

Morata has featured for some of Europe’s biggest clubs across his career, having come through the ranks at Real Madrid, winning ‘La Decima’ in 2014 after beating Atleti in the final.

He left Los Blancos in 2014 to pursue pastures new at Juventus, for whom he reached another Champions League final in 2015 - losing out to his former employers’ rivals Barcelona.

On his return to Real he won another Champions League, this time against Juve in 2017 in Cardiff. He joined Chelsea as a replacement for the rogue Diego Costa, but failed to fill his shoes adequately.

He returned to Atletico - a club whom he played in the academy with before joining Real - for £58m after a loan spell in 2019.

Morata seems like a good fit for Arsenal, for a cheap price in today’s forward market. Arteta could be the manager to get the best out of the forward, who as of yet has failed to live up to his lofty potential.