As far as we’re mostly concerned, this rumor is about Alvaro Morata. But it also might involve Gonzalo Higuain, with whose agent Chelsea have supposedly made “first contact” this week.
This is of course not the first transfer window in which Chelsea have been linked with Gonzalo Higuaín. In fact, we can go all the way back to 2012, when he helped Real Madrid lift their 32nd La Liga title with 22 goals before leaving the club to join Napoli the next year.
Still, as with the recurring Sergio Aguero rumors, it can be argued that Chelsea have arrived at this Higuaín rumor a few years too late, especially as he is starting to show signs of decline. There is a reason Juventus are apparently looking for a replacement, even if publicly they will admit to no such thing.
Gonzalo Higuain is 30 and he scored only 21 non-penalty goals (15.5 xG) in 3600 minutes last season. There's a lot that's worrying there if anyone is targeting him.
— Michael Caley (@MC_of_A) May 23, 2018
Juve are still expecting to make around €60 million from a potential Higuaín transfer, which they would then spend on a replacement, Their shortlist includes Alvaro Morata, Robert Lewandowski and Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani.
Lewandowski would be too expensive to acquire, as Bayern’s €200 million asking price indicates, while Cavani’s availability depends on unlikely sanctions on PSG for breaching FFP rules. And that leaves Morata, which is a rumor we’ve heard for some time now. Juventus believe an offer of €80 million, structured in the same type of arrangement that they worked out for Juan Cuadrado, would be enough to get it done.
In reality, this probably depends on how hard Morata would push to leave Chelsea and return to Juventus, as swapping an under-performing, but promising and younger player, for an over-performing overly-expensive older counterpart is not the best way to conduct business. It would be a move akin to purchasing Fernando Torres from Liverpool seven years ago, and we all know how that all ended.