After six goals in his first six Premier League games, things were looking pretty good for Alvaro Morata at Chelsea and it appeard he would become the perfect replacement for Diego Costa. His movement, speed and finishing seemingly allowed him to slot into Chelsea’s side seamlessly as they began their title defence under Antonio Conte.
However, this early honeymoon period did not last long and a wretched run of form, confidence destroyed, meant that by the end of the season he found himself only making the bench, a downturn which also led to him missing out on a place in Spain’s World Cup squad.
After scoring just three times in 23 games in the second half of the season, Morata admits he even considered packing it in after just one season in London.
"I thought about playing again in Spain or Italy, of course I thought it would have been happy, but you cannot always escape from reality," he told the Spanish press on his return to the national side for their Uefa Nations League games against England and Croatia.
"It was a disaster last year, I did not know where I was, I was not happy. Not going to the World Cup was hard for me. I did not have the best season and the coach made the decision.
"I signed for Chelsea to be there and I was not, although that ultimately made me motivated.
"I do not hold a grudge against (former Spain coach Julen) Lopetegui, I've lived a lot of nice things with him too, it was his opinion and I did not do my best season either.
"But I do not hold a grudge against anyone, I wish him all the best and more now that he is at Real Madrid."
Morata, who has 23 caps, admitted he took his international career for granted and was devastated to not be included in the World Cup squad, but has hope for the future under Spain’s new manager, former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique.
"I experienced it, it was a very hard moment that has already happened and it's not worth looking at the past, I'm going to do everything I can to go to the next one, it was a difficult moment because I thought I was going to go,” said Morata.
"When you start playing football and watch the World Cups on TV, it's your biggest dream to play it with your country, I had a very bad time, I wanted my team-mates to win it but of course I wanted to be there and it was a very difficult moment.
"There are times I have stopped valuing coming here, you do not think about it until you see the national team matches from your home and you know that it is the greatest thing to be with Spain, I hope to come for all the games."
