Account
Chelsea, Juventus Reportedly in Talks for Gonzalo Higuain, Alvaro Morata Swap
July 14, 2018
Chelsea and Juventus have reportedly held talks regarding an exchange deal involving Gonzalo Higuain and Alvaro Morata.
According to Matt Barlow and Simon Jones of the Daily Mail, Higuain is a prime target for new Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri. Juve are said to be prepared to let him go for £53 million after splashing out £100 million on Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Blues have discussed swapping Morata—for whom they paid £65 million last year—for the Argentinian to offset his fee, but after Ronaldo's purchase, it's said the Bianconeri would prefer the money to the player.
Morata had a successful stint in Turin, where he won two Serie A and Coppas Italia. If he were to return, he could play a backup role to Ronaldo similar to the one he played during the 2016-17 season with Real Madrid, which was his most prolific campaign to date (20 goals).
As for Higuain, he had another disappointing tournament with Argentina at the FIFA World Cup, where he struggled to make an impact.
The striker has made some high-profile misses for La Albiceleste in his career, giving him a reputation for mental fragility on the biggest stage:
However, at club level, he has proved himself to be one of the deadliest strikers in football; he scored 122 goals in seven seasons with Real Madrid and has 147 in five years in Serie A with Napoli and Juve.
Sarri was able to get the best out of him when they worked together in Naples, as Higuain scored 38 times—including a record-breaking 36 goals in 35 Serie A games—in his final season with the Partenopei.
He's far more prolific than Morata, though as football writer Andrew Gaffney noted, there is a five-year age difference to consider:
Morata could become a more clinical goalscorer. And given Higuain will be 31 in December, he would only be a fairly short-term acquisition for Chelsea.
The latter would likely add more of a cutting edge at Stamford Bridge, though, so there could be some merit in bringing him in if the two clubs can reach an agreement.