Atletico Madrid have rejected an offer of €50m from Juventus to sign striker Alvaro Morata, according to Marca.
Remarkably, this opening offer from the Bianconeri is lower than the fee Atleti paid Chelsea (€55m) for the striker, whose move was only made permanent this summer following an 18-month loan stint.
Morata – whose wife is Italian – is said to have been frustrated at Atleti in recent months and particularly when Simeone opted to play Diego Costa ahead of him on several occasions near the end of last season.
Indeed, after football resumed in June, Morata only started six of 12 matches for Los Rojiblancos and was a substitute in the Champions League defeat to RB Leipzig.
It follows a report that Juventus want Morata with their new boss Andrea Pirlo – a former teammate of the Spaniard – keen to push for a deal.
However, the striker has a €150m release clause and it does not appear that the club are in any mood to negotiate down on that.
The striker previously spent two years in Italy with the Bianconeri – where he scored 15 goals in 63 games, helping them to two league titles and the 2015 Champions League final.
Juve have been heavily linked with a move for Barcelona striker Luis Suarez, and it now appears they have made the former Chelsea striker an alternative.
The 27-year old has struggled for consistency with Diego Simeone’s side since his return to the Spanish capital in 2018, however 12 league goals last season may have handed him a second chance in Simeone’s plans at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Despite Juve’s attempts to sign the player this summer, the economic reality of Covid-19, coupled with Atleti’s unwillingness to sell, makes any deal unlikely.
