Real Madrid were reportedly offered €70m by city rivals Atletico Madrid for star forward Alvaro Morata earlier in the summer.
Spanish newspaper outlet AS have made a shocking claim that Atletico Madrid had made an offer worth €70m for Real Madrid’s star forward Alvaro Morata. The report has added that the bid was immediately rejected by the Real Madrid hierarchy who were against the idea of selling their academy ace to their bitter rivals.
Alvaro Morata is one of the few youngsters that have managed to make the Real Madrid first-team after coming through the ranks at the club’s academy. The striker was sold to Juventus with a buy-back clause of €30m, which was ultimately exercised by Los Blancos this summer.
The activation of the buy-back clause saw Morata returning to Santiago Bernabeu after a couple of hugely successful seasons in Turin. The forward also impressed at Euro 2016 with 3 goals in 4 appearances for La Roja in France.
The 23-year-old’s form at Juventus and with Spain saw him continuously linked with a move to the Premier League in the summer, with Chelsea and Arsenal both vying for the Spanish international’s signature. Real Madrid were reported to be willing to part with the player but only for a bid of €70m or upwards.
The Spanish giants later decided to keep the player in Madrid but AS have now revealed that a third club was interested in the player. While Chelsea and Arsenal seemed to have backed out after the revelation of the player’s asking price, Diego Simeone was unfazed by the price tag and even made an offer to their city rivals Real for Morata.
The offer, though, was swiftly rejected by the club and the hierarchy informed Atletico Madrid’s representatives that they would not be interested in selling any of their players to their cross-town rivals, which could ultimately aid their title challenge.
One wonders what would’ve been had Real Madrid accepted Atletico’s offer. But it seems the decision to keep Morata was a good one as the striker scored on his home return in a narrow 2-1 win over Celta Vigo.
