Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata 'misses' Juventus dressing room

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 12 February 2017

Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata says that he "gave everything" for Juventus and would have remained at the club if not for a buy-back clause inserted in his contract.

Alvaro Morata has confessed that he was 'willing to stay at Juventus for many years' had he not been re-signed by Real Madrid last summer.

The Spain international, heavily linked with Chelsea over the past few days, won two Serie A titles and two Coppa Italia crowns during his time in Turin.

Morata's impressive form saw him recalled prior to the 2016-17 campaign by Madrid, who invoked a £23m buy-back clause written into his contract, but he admits to missing the camaraderie in the Juve dressing room and even suggests that he likely would have stayed in place if not for the terms of his deal.

"I am not Italian, but I gave everything for the Bianconeri shirt and I was willing to stay there many years," he told Corriere dello Sport.

"Juventus knew that. The only problem was that Madrid had been my dream since when I was little. Without the buy-back option, you would have had to drive me to get me away from Turin!

"I miss the Italian group from the dressing room - [Leonardo] Bonucci, [Andrea] Barzagli, [Giorgio] Chiellini, [Claudio] Marchisio, [Gianluigi] Buffon, they were key in my adaptation to Juventus and Turin. If I had come into a bad dressing room at Juventus, I wouldn't have done so well."

Morata has started just six league games for Madrid this season and featured a further eight times from the bench, scoring six times and setting up a further two.