What Roman Abramovich Would Have Taken from His Alvaro Morata Scouting Mission

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich seems to be taking the hands-on approach to rebuilding the club this summer.

Rather than leaving scouting missions to his army of staff at Stamford Bridge, the Russian is reportedly in France running the rule over some of Chelsea's rumoured transfer targets who are in Euro 2016 action with their countries.

Jason Burt of the Telegraph claimed Abramovich was in the crowd for Spain's surprise 2-1 loss to Croatia this week. It wasn't to catch up with Chelsea stars Cesc Fabregas and Pedro, either. Apparently the Blues owner was there to watch Alvaro Morata in the flesh as the club ponder a £40 million bid.

Not only has the Spanish striker shot to fame with his form for Juventus in the past couple of seasons, he's hit a hot streak in France. He has three goals for his country at the European Championship, sitting joint top of the scoring charts with Gareth Bale.

Regardless of Spain's loss, Abramovich would have been impressed with what he saw from Morata. The 23-year-old is a massive threat in the box—as his scoring record shows—while he offers plenty more to Vicente del Bosque's side, notably his ability to lead the line and bring others into play.

Chelsea have been burned by reputations in the transfer market before, though. So would Morata be a risk? Or would he strengthen the west London side in an area where Diego Costa is desperate for back-up?

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Those aside, the burning question Chelsea must ask for any striker they are looking at this summer is whether or not he can partner Costa.

The Blues shouldn't be looking to replace what they already have, but if incoming head coach Antonio Conte switches Chelsea's system to feature two strikers—as we're expecting—he needs another big name up front to make an instant impact.

We haven't seen a strike pair at Stamford Bridge since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eidur Gudjohnsen were terrorising defences in the early 2000s. Chelsea played some of their best football then, too. The trophies may not have been forthcoming, yet they were exciting to watch and were prolific at times.

Since Abramovich took control at Chelsea, the Blues have played with just the sole front man. It was primarily Didier Drogba in that role, while the likes of Fernando Torres and Andriy Shevchenko have tried—and failed—to emulate his effectiveness.

Despite his problems, Costa has been Chelsea's best striker outside of Drogba in that time. At his best he is a handful for defenders and has no qualms about being the bad guy. He'll chase everything in the final third, taking few prisoners in the process. And he scores goals.

There are times he looks isolated, though. After the success of his first season at Stamford Bridge, there was a sense of defenders sussing him out more last term, and he struggled for long spells. A lot of that was down to the problems that ended Jose Mourinho's reign as manager, yet Costa himself wasn't clever enough to overcome them.

He needs a partner to ease the burden and Morata has the look of a man who can be his perfect foil. Regardless of their shared nationalities, the former Juventus man is a different type of striker to Costa. He isn't as aggressive and nor does he play on the edge of the game like Chelsea's No. 19.

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As history will tell us, when it comes to the most successful strike partnerships, opposites attract. There isn't a reason why that shouldn't be the case here, too.

Chelsea fans will have to forgive comparisons with Liverpool for the moment. But when we consider how a Costa-Morata double act may work, an apt example would be to cast our minds back to Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez at Anfield. They were lethal and came close to winning Liverpool the Premier League title in 2013/14.

Individually brilliant, Suarez and Sturridge combined to form one of the best strike combos we have seen in the Premier League since the turn of the century. In that one season alone they scored a combined 55 goals in all competitions.

Suarez was full of endeavour and his work rate allowed Sturridge to play off him. They built a chemistry that took a weak Liverpool side to places it shouldn't have gone and it was all thanks to their goals.

Make Costa the Suarez to Morata's Sturridge at Stamford Bridge and we can imagine something very similar. As if to whet the appetite all the more, Costa has even shouldered the role as the lead bandit in the Premier League since Suarez moved to Barcelona after the 2014 World Cup.

That's where Morata comes into the equation for Chelsea. He isn't just a name, he is that rare thing that we've seen with Chelsea's more recent transfer policy: Morata is the logical choice of those players who seem attainable in the transfer market.

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His 27 goals across the past two seasons with Juventus suggest Morata isn't going to be as prolific as Costa (the Chelsea striker has 36 in the same period). He doesn't have to be; he needs to form a partnership for the Blues that collectively delivers goals in the same way Suarez and Sturridge did for Liverpool.

With a stronger unit behind that pair, the expectation is Chelsea would achieve so much more than Brendan Rodgers' side did. Costa and Morata would have their guns loaded by Eden Hazard, Cesc Fabregas and others.

For all the problems we saw at Stamford Bridge last term, the reality was that things were not as bad as they seemed. Where Chelsea paid the price was with a failure to adapt to the changes we're seeing in the Premier League football and the wider game across Europe. The fact remains, they have a talented group of players who need some additions in key areas to restore their strength and balance.

One striker wasn't enough to do it for them in 2015/16 and a tired 4-2-3-1 system meant Chelsea couldn't react to teams getting the better of them over 90 minutes. There were holes in the squad and Conte's main task now is to fill them.

Morata would put Chelsea in a position of strength. He would help evolve their style and most importantly cut the reliance on Costa to be the main goalscorer.

Abramovich wouldn't have seen all that after just one game, but he would have been given a taste for it at least.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes