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Chelsea complete £58m signing of Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid

New man | Alvaro Morata has joined Chelsea: AFP/Getty Images
New man | Alvaro Morata has joined Chelsea: AFP/Getty Images

Chelsea have completed a big-money deal for Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata.

The Premier League champions had already confirmed the move via a statement on Wednesday, but said the 24-year-old still needed to agree personal terms and undergo a medical at the west London club.

But after jetting in from the US where Real are currently carrying out their pre-season preparations, Morata has now completed his move to Antonio Conte's side for an initial £58million.

Conte, who led Chelsea to the Premier League title last term with a record 30 wins, convinced the Spain international to leave Real for Juve three years ago although he ended up departing to take charge of the Italy national team before Morata arrived in Turin later that summer.

Morata stayed two seasons at Juve before Madrid activated a buy-back clause in his contract last summer to bring him back to the Santiago Bernabeu.

However, Zinedine Zidane used the forward mostly as a substitute which has proved key in Morata's decision to look for regular playing time elsewhere.

The striker will now join Chelsea after the Blues missed out on their first-choice target Romelu Lukaku, who joined Manchester United instead.

The deal paves the way for Chelsea to let Diego Costa leave the club, with the forward expected to re-join Atletico Madrid this summer.