The Spaniard’s short stay in England could be brought to an end this summer with reports circulating that he is set to leave Stamford Bridge in the coming weeks. Borussia Dortmund, where his teammate Michy Batshuayi spent half the season on loan, are rumoured to be interested in Morata. The question is would he be a good signing for the German side or a flop like at Chelsea?
It has been a torrid year for the former Juventus striker despite such a positive start in London. He managed to score seven goals in his first eight games for Chelsea, in all competitions but then the goals dried up. He went onto score just another eight goals and found himself falling down the pecking order behind Oliver Giroud and Eden Hazard; who is not even a striker.
Morata had big boots to fill as he was brought in to replace Diego Costa and the fee Chelsea paid was not cheap. He has not lived up to his huge price tag and has crumbled under the pressures of playing for a high profile club like Chelsea.
The disastrous year was all but confirmed when he was left out of the Spain squad for the World Cup this summer. After leading the line in Euro 2016 and netting three goals in the group stage, he was expected to lead the line in Russia, but things have not panned out that way over the last two years.
However, that is not to say Morata cannot reproduce his former glories at a new club. Dortmund have nurtured great strikers over the years from Jan Koller to Robert Lewandowski. They are a side who can bring out the best in a low in confidence player; see Batshuayi as an example.
With players like Mario Gotze, Shinji Kagawa and Christian Pulisic around the former Real Madrid player it could rejuvenate his career. He has the ability to hold up play and wait for his teammates, but he can also go at the defence on his own providing a significant threat from the counterattack. There is no doubting he can finish but he has to stay confident otherwise Dortmund would see a dip in his form like Chelsea have done.
However, Dortmund are reluctant to meet Chelsea’s cut-price valuation of £45 million. If Chelsea are keen on offloading their striker, then they may have to lower the price even more as his stock will be quite low after a poor season for them. But if Dortmund do manage to secure him and keep his morale high, then they will have acquired a striker who has all the capabilities of helping them catch up to Bayern Munich.
