Front page news: Juventus ‘in love’ with Morata

The Italian media, most notably Turin-based Tuttosport and Milan-based Gazzetta dello Sport, two of the biggest papers in the country, continue to push the Morata back to Juventus narrative.

The details still haven’t really changed since the former waded in with the gory numbers of Juve’s potential lowball offer: €15 million loan fee for the first year, then a fixed mandatory buy-option of €40-45 million. Gazzetta’s latest puts the option at an even €50 million, but that’s really an academic difference, which still leaves the total price short of what Chelsea paid for Morata last summer. The structure of the deal itself would be very similar to how Juan Cuadrado’s return to Italy got done between these same two clubs — the biggest difference being that Cuadrado was terrible for Chelsea while Morata has been decent, even good in patches.

Gazzetta adds that “dialogue” with Morata’s entourage has been going “for weeks”, but Chelsea’s failure to qualify for the Champions League (thanks in part to Morata’s poor finishing at crucial times this season), the likely departure of Mario Mandzukic from Juve, and the probable stay of Max Allegri, who’s a big fan, have all made it a bit more likely in recent times that this thing will evolve from idle chatter to something real.

What the reports from Italy don’t address is why Chelsea would be foolish enough to agree to this deal.