Chelsea: AC Milan has no place and is no place for Alvaro Morata on loan

AC Milan has become the rumour mill’s favourite destination for Chelsea’s cast-off players. Alvaro Morata may be back in the mix for a January loan, but Tiemoue Bakayoko’s experience there should be enough to warn him off.

The rumour mill is picking up steam as December approaches, but it is not picking up many new ideas. AC Milan continually crops up with interest in any number of Chelsea players who have fallen out of favour under Maurizio Sarri (or were never in his favour to begin with). Perhaps the prospect of shipping any number of Blues in return for Gonzalo Higuain keeps hope alive for all those pushing for a spurt of Chelsea-Milan winter business.

Alvaro Morata has joined Cesc Fabregas and Gary Cahill in the AC Milan rumours. The Cahill interest was a brief blip early in the season. But for Fabregas, the Italian club has much to offer if the Spaniard is truly dissatisfied with his minimal playing time under Sarri.

If Morata is weighing a move to AC Milan – and we strongly doubt he is – he should talk to Tiemoue Bakayoko before taking any phone calls. At the very least he should read up on Bakayoko’s experience at the San Siro. With barely any transition between each stage, Bakayoko went from being an exciting and enigmatic new hope to being the biggest donkey in club history to being the most beloved player to grace Milan’s midfield in years. One day Bakayoko was fodder for the worst kind of tabloid abuse, the next he was garnerning back-to-back man of the match accolades and joyous embraces from fans and media.

This is just about the worst possible situation for someone like Alvaro Morata. Few players in the game have such a conspicuous relationship between their confidence, their performance and their demeanor. When Morata is on a scoring streak, believes in himself and has the support of his teammates, coach and fans he is a joy to watch and he takes immense joy in playing. When events and people start to turn against him, he enters a spiral that magnifies everybody’s worst tendencies.

What Tiemoue Bakayoko has endured over the last few months at AC Milan would be an immense struggle for any player. For Morata, it would be beyond imagining. Gennaro Gattuso went to the edge of professionalism in his comments about Bakayoko after some early-sesaon performances. Whatever motivational effect this had on Bakayoko would not be replicated with Morata.

Beyond Milan not being a good match for Morata, they simply do not need him. In addition to Gonzalo Higuain they have 20-year old Patrick Cutrone and 25-year old Suso. With these three forwards performing well, being well-integrated in Gattuso’s system and representing the present, future and long-term of the club, Morata would have little opportunity to break into the XI and earn more playing time. Unless Maurizio Sarri decides to go whole hog into using Eden Hazard as a false-nine or Chelsea recalls Michy Batshuayi, Morata would almost certainly receive more minutes at Chelsea than Milan.

My own overbearing sense of stubbornness and spite makes me want Alvaro Morata to succeed at Chelsea simply to prove wrong everyone who has scapegoated or tossed lazy banter at him over the last year. Despite his recent drop in form he is still Chelsea’s second-highest scorer in the Premier League. Four of his goals came since the last time Chelsea’s highest-scorer, Eden Hazard, put one in the net.

Morata should continue to back up his words from the summer and keep fighting for his place in the side. Olivier Giroud is making it as easy for Morata as Morata is for Giroud. If those two can maintain their proper competition, the Blues will not need to talk inbound transfers or outbound loans at least until the summer.