Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata broke the club transfer fee record when he signed last month, creating massive expectations at Stamford Bridge. Morata, a former Real Madrid man who was also heavily targeted by Manchester United, will be called upon to both replace the production of Diego Costa, and live up to his £58 million price tag.
Morata didn’t have the most stellar debut, in the Community Shield last weekend and it has invited plenty of criticism. Chelsea played Arsenal to a 1-1 draw before losing 4-1 on penalties. Morata didn’t feature until the 74′ and during the shootout he missed his only penalty kick attempt.
In a very revealing interview with MARCA, Alvaro Morata admits the amount of money that Chelsea paid for him is very high, and that with that money comes heavy criticism. Morata admits the critics “are already killing me.”
“I admit it’s a very important amount but I have the personality to play with calmness and continue my path. I have only played two preseason games, 15 official minutes and a missed penalty,” he said.
“They (the critics) are already killing me so I know what awaits me. It’s the price you have to pay for such a big transfer. It’s something that motivates me and makes me work harder every day, to be an extra hour each day in the training ground. I know that double the people are watching me now.”
He also opened up about how many goals he could see himself scoring this season at Stamford Bridge.
“I hope I can score more than 20 goals. That is my job. But I’m not obsessed in that sense as I would change it for any collective title.
“During my time at Juve I didn’t score more than 20 goals a year but I won every title except the Champions League. I’ve scored 15 or 16 goals and I’ve lifted titles and other strikers have scored 35 and haven’t won anything.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
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