Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has reportedly told his friends of his desire to sign Alvaro Morata for the club this summer. Manchester Evening News claims that the United manager is convinced that the Real Madrid striker would be a suitable replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and feels that the 24-year-old possesses the physicality to be a success in the Premier League.

Morata has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United and is Mourinho’s priority signing. According to Sky Sports, we have already had a £52.4m bid rejected by Madrid. It looks like £52.4m is not enough as the Spanish champions are reportedly demanding £78m from United, although the striker’s agent has already indicated that the player will not tolerate another season as Zinedine Zidane’s back-up option.

Juanma Lopez told Foot Mercato,

“The player will take a clear and definitive decision in the coming days. I have not yet met with the representatives from Real Madrid. He does not want to do a season like this again. It was a great season, but he wants to play more.”

But this transfer saga takes another twist as Morata gives a contradicting statement (to his agent’s statement) and he revealed that he wants to stay with the Madrid club. He was quoted by Marca,

“I want to be playing and to be important to the squad, particularly next year when there is the World Cup. I’d be crazy if I didn’t want to stay. If I thought about playing more, I’d dedicate myself to chess or tennis. Will I go back to Italy? It would be very difficult so certainly not. I want to stay at Real Madrid.”

Contradicting statements from the agent and the player are only indications that no certain decision has been made so far by the player or Real Madrid. While Morata is keen on staying at Real Madrid, his agent says that they will discuss the future with the club. The discussion will purely be about Morata’s role in the team next season. Zidane preferred to use Benzema more than Morata last season, despite the Spaniard showing so much promise.

It will be interesting to see how the discussions between Morata and Real Madrid go. Do you think we’ll be able to land Morata this summer?