Alvaro Morata is relishing the limelight at Chelsea, and has no regrets about leaving European champions Real Madrid for Stamford Bridge as he targets Premier League silverware.
Morata enjoyed two spells at boyhood club Madrid, winning two La Liga titles and as many Champions League crowns among others, but he was unable to cement himself in the starting XI with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema headlining Zinedine Zidane’s attacking options.
The 25-year-old Spain international is now flourishing under Antonio Conte at Chelsea – who signed the forward for a reported fee of £70-million – with seven goals in the Premier League following his winner against Manchester United last week.
Morata remains happy with his decision to swap Madrid for Chelsea, telling Marca: ‘I would never regret joining a club a club like Chelsea and hopefully I will be a long time at Chelsea.
‘You should never have regrets in life, all the steps that I have taken in my career have served for something and I have learned from them. I won in Italy, I won at Real Madrid and I felt important. Now I have a challenge ahead of me to be champion in Spain, Italy and England.
‘None or very few Spaniards have achieved that, and that is my goal. To win the Premier League and be the Spaniard that has won in three different countries.’
Asked about the reasons behind his Madrid departure, Morata said: ‘In the end, the only decisive reason, which Real Madrid were not able to give me, was to play each Sunday, whether good or bad.
‘Now there have been three games where I have not been at my best physically, but I have continued to play. This is what I needed. Real Madrid are Real Madrid and any player would want to be at Real Madrid. Why would I want to leave Real Madrid? I wanted to play, nothing else.
‘It has been said that I did not want to battle, but I fought all my life to be at Real Madrid and be in the starting eleven. All my life, but I needed to play and in Chelsea I have got what I wanted.’
He added: ‘I will be thankful for ever to Zidane because he gave me the chance to win another Champions League and play at Real Madrid. He said to me ‘Alvaro, I know that you want to play and have consistency and I think it would be logical for you to go’. He said to me that he wanted me to stay, but also that he had a lot of options going forward.
‘I decided that the best thing was for me to go because there was a World Cup ahead and I wanted to be at that. I want to be an important player for Spain and for that I need consistency, which I am looking for.’
-This story originally appeared on FourFourTwo.co.za
