Alvaro Morata has revealed he had an offer to join Manchester United prior to his transfer from Real Madrid to Chelsea.
But the 24-year-old said the presence of Antonio Conte at Stamford Bridge made his decision to move to London over Manchester an easy one.
Morata said he was unaware of any interest from Chelsea at the start of the transfer window and thought they were targeting “a different player”.
He remains unsure whether that player was Romelu Lukaku, who was bought by Manchester United for £90m.
“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.”
Morata also revealed he had been close to joining Chelsea last summer, when Conte was initially appointed as manager.
“Last summer it was close,” he said. “Cesar Azpilicueta was a bit annoyed because he had already started house-hunting for me.
“We’d even got estate agents on board. This time Cesar has sorted everything.
“When I spoke to Conte last summer, I said ‘If I’m going to leave Real Madrid, it will only be for Chelsea’.
“I remember I was with my wife after hearing him out and I said ‘Chelsea are going to win the league this season.’ And that’s exactly what happened. Now we need to repeat it.”
