Real Madrid Transfer News: Latest on Alvaro Morata and Cristiano Ronaldo Rumours

Real Madrid were dealt a blow in their pursuit to re-sign forward Alvaro Morata, as the Juventus man seemingly pledged his future to the Serie A champions.

The Spanish striker was instrumental in Juve’s 2-1 Champions League victory over Manchester City in midweek, and such performances have put him back on the radar of his former employers.

Even so, Morata was keen to shake off transfer rumours linking him with the Bernabeu during a recent interview with Spanish outlet Sportmediaset, saying he’s happy with life in Turin—via David Sanchidrian of AS: “Juventus is my team and I’m OK here. I’m not thinking about other clubs.”

Luca Bruno/Associated Press

The 22-year-old added to Sky Sports that, despite his commitment to Juventus, he’s humbled by Real’s interest—via Sanchidrian:

“I appreciate Madrid’s high regard for me, but right now I’m working on scoring and winning everything I possibly can with Juventus.”

However, Morata’s resolve could amount to nothing, as Real insisted on inserting a buy-back clause into the striker’s contract when he was shipped off to Juventus for €22 million in summer 2014.

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

With that in mind, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has said it’s very plausible that Morata will be wearing white once again, with a fee of around €32 million enough to bring him back to his homeland—per Marca, via Ben Gladwell of ESPN:

"We could bring him [back]. It is developing, and at the end of the season we could pay €10 million more than we sold him for [around €22m]."

Morata still needs to agree to return to Madrid if Los Blancos put an offer on the table, though, and it would be surprising to see the youngster drop everything he’s built in Turin and go back to the life of being a small fish.

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

However, Juventus aren’t taking any chances, and Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the Old Lady are preparing to offer Morata a lucrative deal to keep him at the club.

Madrid’s out-and-out striker shortage looks like it’ll need to be addressed another way, then, although they could well be another front man down come next summer.

Cristiano Ronaldo

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Real Madrid’s mercurial striker Cristiano Ronaldo has been linked with a move back to Old Trafford seemingly ever since leaving the club for the Bernabeu, yet now it appears the rumours are finally edging closer to being a reality.

That’s according to Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, who said during a question-and-answer session with Sky Sports that everything is in place for the deal to go ahead:

"

As I have said for months, everything is ready for him to go back. All the finances are in place if he decides to join them, He does dream of going back but I am pretty sure that if given the choice of PSG, another top European club or United, he might realise going back is not the greatest of ideas. He will have to fight with his own shadow. I feel before next summer Ronaldo will have to think about his future carefully.

"

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

Ronaldo’s contract with Real doesn’t expire until 2018, by which time he’ll be 33 years of age, so if the club want to cash in on the Portuguese star, next summer could be a good way to go about it.

Manchester United aren’t exactly shy when it comes to splashing the cash, either, and would likely pay close to the £80 million fee that they sold Ronaldo for back in 2009.

Still, it’s clear that the prolific front man has plenty to offer Madrid on the biggest stages of them all despite his (apparent) seasoned age.

Oscar del Pozo/Associated Press

Eight goals in his last two games tells you all you need to know about that, while Ronaldo himself is showing no signs of stepping off the gas.

His desire to score goals and win matches is stronger than ever, and should Real recover from their disappointing 2014/15 campaign with silverware this time around, he’ll undoubtedly be the catalyst behind it.