Manchester United To Confirm £70m Morata Signing 'Within Next 72 Hours'

Manchester United's pursuit of Alvaro Morata appears to finally be over, with reports in Spain claiming that a deal will be done as early as Thursday for the Spanish striker.

It was believed that a deal had been struck between United and Real Madrid several weeks ago, although those reports proved to be premature, with Los Blancos holding out for more than the £52 million United initially offered for the 24-year-old's services.

Yesterday, however, Morata's father and agent Alfonso met with Real officials during a 50 minute meeting at the Bernabeu, according to AS, in order to revive the deal and the news coming out of the meeting suggests that the move is now just a matter of days from being confirmed by all parties.

Reports in the UK have suggested that Morata and the Old Trafford club came to terms on personal terms weeks ago, with the only sticking point being the agreement of a transfer fee between United and Real.

The European and Spanish champions at one point were expected to be holding out for £80 million, but now it appears they will settle for a deal somewhere in the region of £65-70 million for the former Juventus man.

Morata has been attempting to engineer an exit from the Bernabeu for some time now, having become disillusioned with life in the Spanish capital since he returned from Juventus, last summer.

Having failed to overtake Karim Benzema in manager Zinedine Zidane's pecking order, Morata has instead been after a reunion with Jose Mourinho, whom he worked with during his first spell as a Los Blancos player.

Morata never properly settled upon his return to Real, with Karim Benzema being preferred to the Spanish striker, by Zinedine Zidane. Image: PA

Despite only starting 19 games last season, the Spain international still managed to bag 20 goals in 43 appearances in all competitions.

Is he the right man for the job at Old Trafford, though?

Have your say in our comments sections below and on our Facebook page.

(H/T Metro)

Topics: Football, Manchester United, Alvaro Morata, Real Madrid

Joe Baiamonte

Northerner. Assistant Editor of SPORTbible. Studied Journalism and Broadcasting in a portakabin on a car park of Salford University for three years. Believes football peaked with Serie A in the '90s and strong-arms pro wrestling references into as many articles as possible. Neymar once took 50 euros off me during a game of poker.

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