Morata admits to missing Juventus: I was willing to stay many years

Alvaro Morata has revealed he would have been open to staying at Juventus for an extended period had Real Madrid not exercised their buy-back option.

Morata won the Serie A and Coppa Italia double in each of his two seasons in Turin and admitted he misses the former team-mates who helped him to settle at the club.

“I am not Italian, but I gave everything for the Bianconeri shirt and I was willing to stay there many years,” Morata told Corriere dello Sport.

“Juventus knew that, the only problem was that Madrid had been my dream since I was little. Without the buy-back option, you would have had to drive me to get me away from Turin.

“I miss the Italian group from the dressing room – [Leonardo] Bonucci, [Andrea] Barzagli, [Giorgio] Chiellini, [Claudio] Marchisio, [Gianluigi] Buffon, they were key in my adaptation to Juventus and Turin.

“If I had come into a bad dressing room at Juventus, I wouldn’t have done so well.”

Morata is set to return to Italy for a Champions League last-16 tie against Napoli, the first leg of which will take place in Madrid on Wednesday, and the 24-year-old insists he is not thinking ahead to a potential clash against Juve.

“Would I sign for a Real Madrid-Juventus final? Juve are Juve and they always aspire to be the best,” Morata said. “I admit I wouldn’t like it, but just to be there I would sign for it.

“If I had to lose a final, I would prefer to lose against Juventus over losing to other teams. But now we need to focus on Napoli. If we think about a hypothetical final, Napoli will send us home.

“I always want to win, but I admit I would be even happier to beat Napoli because of my Juventino past.”