Manchester United have decided to increase their bid to £60m for Real Madrid’s Spanish striker Alvaro Morata. Jose Mourinho has identified Morata as a pivotal part of his revamp plan and would go to any extent to bring the player to Old Trafford.
Antoine Griezmann and Romelu Lukaku were on the top of Mourinho’s wishlist. But both the players now seem to have chosen a different path. Lukaku is on the verge of joining Chelsea for a record fee while Griezmann has made it clear he is not leaving Atletico Madrid after the Spanish club’s appeal regarding their transfer ban got rejected.
Mourinho is desperate to land an alternative for Zlatan Ibrahimovic who is currently recuperating from a cruciate ligament knee injury which happened in April. Wayne Rooney has also fallen in the pecking order and rumours are hovering around that the player could leave the club and thus open a slot for Morata to fit in.
Madrid recently rejected a bid of £52m for the 24-year-old as they are holding out for a fee which is believed to be in excess of £78m. Adding a new no.9 to the side is one of Mourinho’s main concerns and Morata could be that player.
Morata also had a brief stint with Italian champions Juventus. He registered his name on the score sheet across both the legs in the 2014-15 Champions League semifinal against Real Madrid and was partially responsible for knocking them out of the competition. Madrid exercised a buy-back clause to bring him back to Santiago Bernabeu soon after that.
Morata currently earns £80,000 per week but the Red Devils are ready to persuade him with a bigger pay packet in the tune of £225,000 a week. Madrid already has a galaxy of stars in the forward line with the likes of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo and it would be a mammoth task for him to find a space in the Starting lineup. But at United, Mourinho is ready to offer him the choice to be the first choice striker which is one of the most tempting jobs in the football world.
Added to that, he needs more game time to rectify his mistakes and develop himself into a complete striker. Right now there is a dearth of proper centre-forwards in the Spanish national team and he could make this opportunity to jump on the first team.
So moving to Manchester would offer him an array of chances and both Mourinho and Morata should try simultaneously to make this move possible.
