Alvaro Morata’s Real Madrid DNA pushes him towards Chelsea trophies

Alvaro Morata’s recent comments hint at a change in attitude for his time at Chelsea. It was bred of Real Madrid DNA and is slowly paying off.

It is easy to forget through all the criticism that Morata started his Chelsea career blazing hot. Before that, he was a super sub/key figure in Real Madrid’s rotated league side. But after injury and personal issues at Chelsea, he came off the boil and many fans turned on him.

But despite a rough year, Morata still shows glimpses of that old player with an eye for goals. His mood has risen and fallen but his overall attitude has been good.

His recent comments explain that. Morata said that Chelsea can fight for all four available trophies this year. That is incredibly ambitious but it is good to hear from the embattled striker.

Morata is, after all, a player raised in the Real Madrid system. That system takes no prisoners. A player either wins or leaves. And though Morata has a reputation for being soft, it is difficult to say that it extends beyond the pitch given these comments.

Of course, in a normal year Chelsea should be starting with the goal of winning all available trophies. Maurizio Sarri, like Antonio Conte before him, is not favoring any one piece of silverware over another. He wants it all and to hear a player such as Morata say the same is heartening.

But if Chelsea is going to compete on all four fronts through the spring, the strikers must step up and find the back of the net. Though Sarri sees defense as the biggest stumbling block currently, the reality is that the offense often goes flat and stale and requires something special to score.

If Morata can find an inkling of his late Real Madrid/early Chelsea form, that situation can quickly end and turn into something new. The title race already looks like it will come down to fine margins and a scoring Morata can become that fine margin. The cups will always come down to some luck in the draw and a good performance on the day, but the league will offer no such concessions.

And perhaps Morata’s attitude wins him some supporters. The criticism against him has been warranted but he could score five goals in a game single handedly and still be faced with nasty remarks. They become even stranger when one considers Oliver Giroud’s whopping goal tally of zero.

Sarri trusts Morata. That trust ebbs and flows but he surely likes the striker’s attitude. He absolutely needs to translate those boisterous quotes to the pitch but they are nice to hear all the same. A striker needs to have a bit of crazy in them and this shows that Morata has that even after months in the dark.

And if Morata can bring that attitude to the pitch, then Chelsea can reach a new level. Top four is the goal now, but with a scoring striker, Morata’s goals might become the club’s goals. Sarri will hope that Morata can find within himself to complete the puzzle.