Alvaro Morata has revealed that Zinedine Zidane did not want him to leave the club , but he was not keen on spending another season on the bench.
The Spain international joined Chelsea in July, just a year after sealing a return to Madrid. He made 43 appearances for Madrid, but only started 19 matches.
Morata says his desire to grow up and break into the Spain squad made the decision to leave Madrid for him.
“Zidane wanted me to stay and I was happy in Madrid. But I couldn’t stay to be a substitute,” Morata, who joined Juventus in 2015 on a permanent deal, told the Daily Mail.
“You reach a point that you need to play, to grow up, to escape a comfort zone. It’s about being comfortable. I don’t want that. I am ambitious and hungry to succeed.
“For Spain, the more I play, the more goals I score, the more chance I have of making the World Cup and starting games.”
“I had various offers, not only Chelsea and Manchester United but also from different leagues,” he said. “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.
“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.
“Last summer, it was close. 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’.”
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