Real Madrid's promising Spanish forward Álvaro Morata has completed his move to Juventus for a reported fee of €20million, signing a five-year deal with the Italian champions. The long-standing Arsenal target had looked on the verge of completing the transfer to Turin last week before the departure of manager Antonio Conte stalled the deal, but new manager Massimiliano Allegri has seen the move through to its conclusion.
The €20million fee Real Madrid will recieve is the most that the club have ever made from an academy graduate, and the Spanish giants will have to pay Juventus as much as €30million if they want to re-sign him in the future. A statement from Juve's official club website reads "The deal includes the option for Real Madrid to reacquire the player’s registration rights at the end of the 2015/16 or 2016/17 campaigns, at predetermined values, up to a maximum of €30 million. These values will be based on the number of matches played by Morata in the relevant season".
Morata, who scored eight goals in 23 league appearances for Madrid as they finished third in La Liga last season, has spoken of his excitement at finalising the move, describing himself as "itching to get down to work". He also enthused that, "Juve are one of the best clubs in the world and Italy's finest. I'll try to contribute to new successes". Morata has impressed for Madrid and Spain's youth teams on many occasions and is thought to be one of the most complete young strikers in Europe, but he has found his path to the first team blocked by Karim Benzema and made only 52 appearances in all competitions in the last four seasons.
While Madrid have also let young Brazilian midfielder Casemiro leave on loan to Porto, Morata will hope to link up with fellow Spanish forward Fernando Llorente at the Juventus Stadium. Spain's embarassing showing at the recent World Cup has shown that there is room for youngsters such as Morata to break through into the senior side, perhaps in time for the next European Championship in 2016. With room to grow in Italy, Morata will be hoping he can make his mark on the European stage as well as domestically.