Alvaro Morata reveals why he rejected Manchester United offer to join Chelsea

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Tom Dutton16 September 2017

Alvaro Morata has revealed Antonio Conte played a key role in his decision to join Chelsea this summer.

The Blues completed a club-record deal for Morata after missing out on their first-choice target Romelu Lukaku, who moved to Manchester United.

It was the second time Conte had turned to Morata in his managerial career having persuaded the striker to join Juventus from Real Madrid in 2014. Conte left Juve to take charge of Italy before getting the chance to work alongside Morata three years ago, but was determined to sign him again in July.

And the Spain international says encouraging talks with Conte made the decision easy despite interest from a number of clubs.

"I had various offers this summer, not only Chelsea and Manchester United but also from different leagues," he told the Daily Mail. "It was a good situation for me.

"The most important and best conversation I had was with Conte, he wanted me to come here.

"At the start of the summer, I didn't know that Chelsea were interested in me. I thought they were in for a different player, maybe Lukaku or maybe someone else, I don't know. I didn't think the option of Chelsea was open.

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"But I spoke with Conte several times - and not only this summer. I felt in debt to him. He signed me for Juventus but left very quickly to manage Italy.

"I always wanted to play for him after that. It was only two months with him but it felt like I'd known him forever. When I knew he wanted me this summer, I didn't think twice. I did everything I could to make the move happen."