Chelsea Transfer News: Alvaro Morata, Antonio Conte Contact Amid Bid Rumours

Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte is reportedly in contact with Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata "practically daily" as he looks to tempt the former Juventus frontman to join him at Stamford Bridge this summer. 

According to Marca (h/t Sport Witness), the Blues boss is set to make a €60 million (£50 million) bid for the Spain international's services. An excerpt from the report read:

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Morata returned to Madrid this summer on a buyback option, but Marca say he continues to be concerned over how big his role will be. Conte has apparently promised Morata he’d have an important role if he moved to Chelsea, and Marca say the manager telephones Morata "practically daily."

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Chelsea saw former loanees Radamel Falcao and Alexandre Pato leave the club this summer, and Conte is moving quickly to restore the wealth of attacking options in west London.

Real Madrid exercised the buyback clause in Morata's contract this summer to re-sign the player for €30 million (£25 million), but it's unknown as to just what the Spanish titans plan to do with the player.

Ronald Zak/Associated Press

It was initially believed Los Blancos would sell Morata for a profit, but after Cristiano Ronaldo's injury in the UEFA Euro 2016 final, manager Zinedine Zidane now looks likely to hold on to the forward.

In fact, Marco Ruiz of Spanish newspaper AS said Morata will pen a new five-year contract at the Santiago Bernabeu, after Real Madrid TV presenter Phil Kitromilides reported the attacker had been handed his new jersey:

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New Real Madrid shirt numbers:
Carvajal 2
Varane 5
Lucas 17
Morata 21
Coentrao 15 pic.twitter.com/C9vf4EkJiu

— Phil Kitromilides (@PhilKitro) July 14, 2016"

Chelsea have already signed Michy Batshuayi from Olympique de Marseille this summer to beef up their options in attack, but the fate of Diego Costa could leave the club with another void to fill before long.

According to AS (h/t the Irish Independent), Costa has told Conte he wishes to leave Chelsea, and Enrique Cerezo—the president of the striker's former club, Atletico Madrid—spoke highly of the 27-year-old in a recent press interview.

He said: "We're looking for a new striker, and we always like to get the biggest players we can. Costa played for us for a few years and he's a really good player, no one can deny that. I don't know if Costa has spoken to Conte, but we're working to hard bring the best players to Atleti."

Morata is clearly a talented asset in Conte's eyes, but Gianluca Di Marzio translator David Amoyal recently pointed out the Spain striker was the third-choice striker with the Old Lady, behind Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic last season:

Nevertheless, the 23-year-old has been tipped for big things in the future, with his prospects of featuring as part of the starting XI at Real likely to be slim at best as long as Karim Benzema is fit.

Conte just missed out on the opportunity to work with Morata at Juventus, having left for the Italy helm in the summer of 2014, but he could get his second chance at Stamford Bridge this summer.