Atletico Madrid 'turn down £46m bid from Juventus for ex-Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata'

Atletico Madrid have rejected a £46million offer from Juventus for the former Chelsea striker, Alvaro Morata. 

The offer was tabled by Juve coach Andrea Pirlo, who played alongside Morata during their 2014-15 spell in Turin. 

The 27-year-old has been linked with a move away from Madrid after growing frustrated with Diego Simeone’s decision to play Diego Costa ahead of him on several occasions at the end of last season. 

Morata – whose wife is also Italian – is interested in returning to Juventus, having had a highly successful two-year spell at the Bianconeri after he joined from Real Madrid for £15.8m in 2014.

The loan deal was worth £6.5m in January 2019 and had an obligation to buy for a further £51m in July 2020. 

The 27-year-old has nothing but good memories from his time at the club, where he scored 27 goals in 93 appearances.

Morata even helped Juventus win two Serie A titles and progress into the Champions League final, where they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in 2015. 

Despite his good relationship with the Italian club, Atleti are reluctant to sell the forward after forking out £58m to purchase him from Chelsea. 

As Morata’s contract in Madrid runs until 2023, the club have told Juventus to either activate his £137 release clause or up their opening offer, according to Marca.   

Should Juventus eventually sign Morata permanently, it would mean that Pirlo would reunite with the Spaniard who was part of the team during the Italian’s final year as a player at the club.