Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata says he chose a summer transfer to Stamford Bridge because manager Antonio Conte was the only one who believed in him.
The Spain international shone in a super-sub role at Real Madrid last season, scoring 20 goals, but sought a departure from the Bernabeu in order to play more regularly.
That didn’t happen under Zinedine Zidane, which led to links for some time with a move to Manchester United before he ended up at Chelsea.
Despite rumoured interest from Jose Mourinho, the United manager instead swooped for Romelu Lukaku as soon as the opportunity came along.
Morata is now adamant that Conte was the only one who really wanted him, as he explained his happiness at his new club.
Asked about how important it is to work under the right manager, the 24-year-old said: ‘It’s the most important thing.
‘I came to Chelsea because one club and one coach believed in me. Now I have all of these things and I’m very happy.’
Morata has started superbly in England, scoring seven goals in his first eight games for Chelsea to justify Conte’s faith in him.
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The 48-year-old initially signed Morata for Juventus back in 2014, though the pair never worked together there as Conte left to take the Italian national team job shortly afterwards.
However, Conte was clearly keen to work with Morata again, prompting him to spend £60million on bringing him to west London this summer.
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