Alvaro Morata has revealed he considered leaving Chelsea in the summer, labelling his first season in English football “a disaster”.
The Spaniard, who joined the Blues from Real Madrid last year, enjoyed a flying start to life at Stamford Bridge, but could not build on it and found himself out of the side.
He managed to net just three goals in 23 appearances during the second half of the season and missed out on Spain’s World Cup squad as a result. And the 25-year-old, who has earned a recall for his country’s Uefa Nations League games against England and Croatia, thought about leaving the Premier Club in favour of a return home or a move to Italy.
“I thought about playing again in Spain or Italy, of course, I thought it would have been happy, but you cannot always escape from reality. It was a disaster last year, I did not know where I was, I was not happy,” said Morata.
“Not going to the World Cup was hard for me. I did not have the best season and the coach made the decision. I signed for Chelsea to be there and I was not, although that ultimately made me motivated. I do not hold a grudge against (former Spain coach Julen) Lopetegui, I’ve lived a lot of nice things with him too, it was his opinion and I did not do my best season either.”
“But I do not hold a grudge against anyone, I wish him all the best and more now that he is at Real Madrid.”
Morata, who has won 23 caps, admitted he took his international career for granted and was left heartbroken by missing out in Russia this summer.