4 Reasons Why Morata Flopped At Chelsea
January 23, 2019
Chelsea striker, Alvaro Morata is set to join his hometown club, Athletico Madrid after his failed stint at Stamford Bridge. The Blues have reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid, which will see Alvaro Morata move out on loan. In the contract, the La Liga club has an option to sign the striker on a permanent basis for $62m.
Morata arrived at Stamford Bridge off the back of a season on Real Madrid that saw him score for Real Madrid every 65 minutes. He won both the La Liga and Champions League that season. He arrived at Chelsea in 2017 and scored nine goals in his first 15 matches for Chelsea. But fast forward to 2018, he is labelled as a Premier League flop.
So why did Morata Flop at Chelsea? Here are four reasons why.
- The hefty price tag
Morata was signed from Real Madrid, for a reported club-record fee of around £60 million. That was the highest that Chelsea had ever paid for a striker. The Spaniard struggled to live up to that price tag. The pressure was too much, after coming from a season in which he scored well and won trophies, he failed to live up to the hype.
- Transitioning from a super sub to a full-time striker
Early in his days at Chelsea, Morata seemed to have successfully transitioned from the super sub role to super starter. Subsequently, he later stopped scoring. Not many strikers have succeeded in navigating from super subs to successful starters. This is something that is currently troubling Chicharito.
- Failure to adapt to Conte and Sarri’s tactics
Morata failed to adapt to Conte’s high tempo football. He found the Italian coach’s tactics stressful. He even admitted to that; he said: “ Conte is asking [him] to do the opposite of what past coaches have asked.”
Sarri’s tactics didn’t benefit him either, he failed to fit into his playing system and was replaced by Giroud, and subsequently Hazard.
- Injuries
During his time at Chelsea, Morata was plagued with injuries. The reason was that, he wasn’t accustomed to the Premier League style if football which didn’t give their players a winter break, unlike La Liga. This lead to the Spaniard picking up minor injuries.
He’ll begin his return to Spain at Athletico Madrid this January.
This article is brought to us by our Sports Writers Club resident columnist – Collins Michael Nwokolo. Follow him on Twitter and Pinterest.
