Chelsea, Atlético Madrid agree Álvaro Morata transfer — reports

Álvaro Morata’s 18-month-long Chelsea nightmare appears to be coming to an end, as the Blues have reportedly agreed a deal with Atlético Madrid for the 26-year-old wantaway striker.

This deal has been rumored to be in the works for a couple weeks now, and while Diego Simeone (and his tactics) don’t seem like the most obvious choice for Morata, perhaps a return to familiar surroundings will be the change of scenery he needs.

Surprisingly, Chelsea seem to have avoided taking a big loss on Morata. If today’s reporting is to be believed, the loan includes a €50-55m buy option that, if activated, will get most of Chelsea most of our investment back — it’s unclear if there is a loan fee, but if there is, as is usual, we’ll get even closer.

In any case, it’s a good deal, unless of course Morata stinks it up for the second half of the season, which isn’t inconceivable, and in which case we’ll be back to where we started. It’s unlikely that any team would pay that much if he continues to struggle in front of goal.

Except for the first six months of this time at Stamford Bridge, Morata has cut a grumpy, sulky, disconsolate figure and while that wasn’t only because of his struggles on the pitch, it was mainly his lack of goals that eventually made him replaceable. Morata looked close to leaving in the summer already, but there was some hope that he’d rediscover himself under new coaching. That hasn’t exactly happened, so this is probably the best solution for all parties involved.