Chelsea are reportedly willing to offer striker Alvaro Morata as part of a deal to sign Mauro Icardi from Inter Milan.
If reports from Italian news outlet Il Messagero are to be believed, Premier League giants Chelsea are set to offer club record signing Alvaro Morata to Inter Milan in order to sign their captain Mauro Icardi.
The Spanish international joined the club only last summer in a £58 million deal (plus add-ons) from Real Madrid and has endured a difficult debut campaign, despite a strong start to life at the Stamford Bridge.
Morata finished the season with 15 goals and 6 assists from 48 appearances across all competitions, scoring just one Premier League goal since the turn of the year and having lost his place in the first team to January signing Olivier Giroud.
And ever since, the 25-year old forward has been heavily linked with a move away from the West London outfit with a return to former club Juventus being mooted. And those speculations further increased, when Morata was spotted in Italy with the Bianconeri’s sporting director Fabio Paratici earlier this week.
However, Chelsea want to use the former Real Madrid star as a makeweight in their attempt to land Icardi from Inter.
The Argentine had a spectacular campaign with the Nerazzurri, firing them to the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2012, courtesy of a fourth-place finish in the Serie A. Icardi managed 29 goals and a solitary assist in 34 appearances in the Serie A, finishing the season as the Serie A’s joint top scorer alongside Lazio forward Ciro Immobile.
Icardi has established himself as one of the most lethal marksmen across Europe, having breached the 25-goal mark for three times in the last four seasons with Inter. The striker has netted a total of 107 goals for the Italians in 182 appearances since joining the club from Sampdoria back in 2013.
A move for Icardi makes sense for Chelsea, given his exploits with Inter in recent seasons and the fact that he is just 25 years of age.
However, it is extremely unlikely that the Argentine international would be considering a move to the London club in the summer. Icardi has three years left on his contract with the Nerazzurri and the Italians have no intentions of losing their captain, with manager Luciano Spaletti understood to be a huge admirer of his star striker.
Moreover, having only fired his team to the Champions League, it is hard to imagine that the Argentine would consider leaving for Chelsea, who missed out on qualification for Europe’s premier football competition and will instead be playing in the UEFA Europa League next season.
Whether the Blues manage to sign Icardi in the summer or not, Morata’s future at the club does seem to be hanging by a thread. And with rumoured interest from the likes of Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid as well, there is a good chance that the Spaniard might not be at the Stamford Bridge when the next season kicks off.