Chelsea

Antonio Conte: 'Alvaro Morata must become more aggressive'

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 23 September 2017

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte believes that Alvaro Morata is the kind of man people want their daughters to marry, but wants the striker to get meaner on the pitch.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has insisted that "good guy" Alvaro Morata must get meaner on the pitch.

The Spain international has scored three Premier League goals since joining the Blues from Real Madrid for a club-record £58m in the summer.

Despite Morata's impressive start to life in England, some have criticised the 24-year-old for lacking in physical presence compared to the departing Diego Costa.

Although Conte has jokingly suggested that Morata is the kind of man that people would want their daughters to marry, the Italian wants his player to be more of a handful when facing opposition defenders.

The former Juventus head coach told reporters: "This is a process for him, when I speak about a lot of room for improvement it also means this aspect, to be [aggressive].

"I like him because he's a complete player and also he has a lot of room to improve in every situation, tactical, physical, technical aspect, he's very committed, his behaviour is always fantastic.

"He is a very polite player, I like this. Also I like that he's a good finisher, he feels the goal in every moment, he's very good to understand which is the best position in the box to receive the ball, to understand where the ball is going.

"What do I mean by polite? He's a really good guy - it means if you have a daughter you'd be open to have this type of person with your daughter, to marry your daughter."

Morata's career tally currently stands at 73 goals from 212 games for Chelsea, Juventus, Real Madrid and the Real Castilla side.