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Arsenal target confirms ‘tempting’ offer & hints at move to England
According to a report in the Evening Standard, Arsenal target Alvaro Morata has confirmed he has tempting offers from English clubs and hinted that he’d be keen to play in the Premier League.
Morata has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates in recent months after Arsene Wenger supposedly identified him as a prime target as he looks to sign a striker after losing Danny Welbeck for nine months through injury.
The Spanish international joined Juventus from Real Madrid two years ago but the La Liga giants are set to trigger a £23m buyback clause and immediately re-sell the striker on at a profit.
Arsenal have been touted as favourites in many of the newspapers with the Sun even reporting earlier this month that we’d tabled an opening £28m bid to Madrid for his signature – although the Spaniards are expected to hold out for a significantly higher fee.
Morata has now been speaking in the press about his situation and it looks like we’ve been boosted in our pursuit as the 23-year-old confirmed he has ‘tempting’ offers from England and hinted that he’d like to test himself in the Premier League.
And any potential deal could be wrapped-up soon as the striker is set to play a key role for Spain at Euro 2016 and he wants his future resolved before the start of the tournament.
Morata is quoted as saying by the Evening Standard:
“There are some offers from England that are tempting, not only by contract,”
“I think for my characteristics the Premier League would also be a great destination.
“I’m saying a move to the Premier League would not be a step backwards. With what I have learned in Italy, if I have the chance to learn something more in England I think it would make me a more complete, better player.
“I’m 23 and all I want is progress, to play and learn from the best.”
“Hopefully everything will be resolved before the 13th, Spain’s first game (against Czech Republic). Because it is uncomfortable to be here thinking about helping your country with a phone in your hand.
“Let’s see what happens at the end and where I play.”
Morata is a huge talent but I’ve voiced my concerns over this proposed deal for some time. He only scored 8 Serie A goals for champions Juventus last season and has never scored more than 15 in all competitions in any season so far in his senior career.
Is he the prolific goal-scorer we desperately need to finish the countless chances that Mesut Ozil creates? No. Not yet anyway. Morata has plenty of potential but he’s far from the finishes article and I have my doubts over whether he’s the man we should be splashing out on this summer.
The papers seem to think he could cost anywhere from £35m to £50m and that’s a lot of money for a striker who scored HALF the league goals that Olivier Giroud got last season. Can you imagine the stick Oli would get if he only scored 8 league goals?
READ: Arsenal table offer for 23-goal attacker
I’d personally rather we went all-out and targetted marquee names such as Benzema, Higuain or Aubameyang as Morata would be a risky piece of business.