Alvaro Morata has once again spoken about his brief time at AC Milan, including regrets about joining the club and the circumstances that led to his exit.
After Olivier Giroud’s exit following the expiry of his contract, the Milan management initially wanted to invest in Joshua Zirkzee before Manchester United offered a bigger package and won the race to sign him.
As a result they turned to Morata, someone who has won virtually everything there is in European football, an experienced option who should have provided guarantees in terms of his leadership and winning mentality.
He cost around €13m, which was his release clause at Atletico Madrid. However, the Spaniard scored just six goals in 25 games and in January he pushed for an exit, joining Galatasaray on an initial loan while the Rossoneri invested in Santiago Gimenez.
Morata spoke during the ‘El Larguero’ segment on Cadena SER and explained why he thinks joining Milan was the right move, and how he ended up with the Turkish champions. Calciomercato.com relayed his comments.
I think last summer I should have thought more about whether or not to leave Atletico Madrid. When you don’t feel good at a certain point in your life, you make bad decisions in every aspect. Things can’t be changed now and today I’m very happy.
If I could go back, I probably wouldn’t have made that decision. Today I realise that I wasn’t able to see reality. We were champions of Europe and at Atletico there were more and more people who loved me and understood me.
When you go through difficult times, you see things in a grey light even if you have people around you who love you and tell you that you are wrong. During the European Championships this thing bothered me, then the opportunity of Milan presented itself.
“The coach [Paulo Fonseca] called me every day, I needed to feel loved and appreciated. Today, looking back, I realise that Simeone loved me too. My father and my agent told me that I was wrong.”
Could you end up in Saudi Arabia?
“I can’t say anything, I don’t know what the future holds for me. Maybe I will have the opportunity to return to another big team that needs an experienced striker.
The rivalry between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce is much more heated and bigger than those between Real Madrid-Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid-Barcelona. I have never seen anything like it. A foreign referee arrived to referee the derby, there were more than 30,000 policemen in the stadium.
“It was incredible. I would like to stay here for a long time but they must also want me to stay. I am very happy, they treat me very well and with affection. At the moment I have a contract until next January. I have adapted well, but I also have a contract with Milan.”
