AC Milan are ready to beat their European rivals to the signature of Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata by bidding €50m (£43.6m), reports RMC Sport, via Football Italia.
Morata only re-joined Madrid from Juventus last summer but has failed to establish himself as a first-team regular and is gearing up to leave his boyhood club for the second time in his career when the transfer window opens this summer.
Manchester United and Chelsea were thought to be the clear favourites to sign the Spain international but Milan have entered the race and are now set to hi-jack any potential deal for Morata.
The 24-year-old reportedly favours a return to Serie A because his fiancée is Italian and that appears to have given Milan, who are back by new Chinese owners, the upper hand in the race to land the Madrid reserve.
Despite only starting 14 times in La Liga this season, Morata has actually been in sublime goalscoring form for Zinedine Zidane’s side and there is a case to argue that suggests he deserves to start ahead of Karim Benzema.
In fact, of players that scored at least five goals only Lionel Messi (1 every 76.5 minutes of action) required fewer minutes per league goal than Morata in La Liga this season (1 every 88.7 minutes of action).
For more stats on Alvaro Morata, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
how bout 40 + Donnarumma