25-year-old Chelsea star finds himself at a career crossroads

Alvaro Morata’s performance during Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City yesterday emphasised just how far the striker has fallen in 2018.

Maurizio Sarri’s Blues lost the community shield on Sunday after falling victim to yet another masterclass from Per Guardiola’s City side, which sent out an ominous message to the rest of the league ahead of the new season.

The most worrying element of Chelsea’s defeat was that they never really looked like scoring, with Morata leading the line for 70 odd minutes before being substituted for Tammy Abraham.

The 25-year-old forward just couldn’t get into the game and on the few occasions he did receive the ball, he either lost possession or failed to push his team forward.

In fact, a closer look at the Spaniard’s stats from the game reveals an even more alarming indictment of his display. According to The Sun, Morata touched the ball just 20 times during his time on the pitch – less than any other player – and played just ten passes in the match.

He also neglected to take on a single City defender and hit just one shot in the game, a wildly desperate effort which never came close to threatening Ederson in the City net.

If this performance were merely a one-off it could be forgiven as just a bad day at the office. However, this kind of display has been something of a regular occurrence since the turn of the year for the former Juventus and Real Madrid man.

During his time in Italy and Spain, he managed to post a relatively impressive goals tally, albeit never managing to fully establish himself as either club’s first choice striker, often appearing from the bench or as a back-up.

When he first arrived at Stamford Bridge he even impressed then, making a blistering start to last season by scoring 10 goals in his first couple of months in the blue shirt. A hat-trick against Stoke City and a winning goal against Manchester United convinced supporters that the club had found the ideal replacement for Diego Costa, but it proved to be a false dawn.

By the end of last season, he only managed to add a further 5 goals to his tally in all competitions and became worryingly known for missing guilt-edge chances and displaying an incredible lack of composure in the final third.

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Add to that the fact that Morata doesn’t seem to be contributing anything else significant in the team’s build-up play and Sarri must now realise he has a problem upfront going into the new Premier League campaign.

BT Sports pundit Richard Dunne was scathing in his assessment of the Spain international post-match on Sunday, as reported by Metro Sport.

“I think you can change the tactics or make the team work harder, but actual individuals? I’m talking specifically about Morata.” said the ex-Manchester City defender.

“Morata was a disgrace up front, he was awful. They’ll have to spend an awful lot of money over the next week.”

So what next for Morata? He has endured a miserable start to life in England on the whole and failed to make Spain’s final squad for the World Cup in Russia as a result. If yesterday is anything to go by, his fortunes seem unlikely to improve any time soon either.

Chelsea does still have Michy Batshuyayi and Olivier Giroud to return to the squad before their opening league game, but there is a general sense amongst supporters, experts and indeed the club’s coaching staff that attacking reinforcements are sorely needed.

Morata has ultimately been unable to fill the boots of the club’s former talisman Diego Costa. Whereas he was strong, bullish, clever and relentless in his pursuit of goals for the team, his Spanish counterpart is a meek imitation in comparison.

Although he looks certain to stay in London for at least one more year, if the misfiring striker does not progress at all this season he will almost certainly be offloaded.

Morata must now pose himself the ultimate question as he approaches the prime years of his career. Do I do everything I can to change my situation at my current club? Or do I cut my losses and head back to Italy or Spain where I can settle and be content at my current level?

Many forwards with great perceived potential have moved to The Premier League and struggled to cope with the pace, intensity and physicality of the English game. My suspicion is that Morata may give his all to the cause between now and May, but will ultimately continue to fall into that bracket.