Manchester United have held talks with the agent of Alvaro Morata over a potential summer transfer, it has been claimed.
The Red Devils are in the market for attacking reinforcements this summer with Erik ten Hag keen to ease the goalscoring burden on Rasmus Hojlund after the young Danish striker took time to find his feet during his maiden season in the Premier League last term.
United have a net transfer budget of just £50million though, and Ten Hag also wants to strengthen in defence and midfield. With that in mind, it now appears that a cut-price move for Morata is being considered by the Dutchman and Old Trafford's top brass.
Turkish outlet Sabah, via Sport Witness, claims that United have taken an interest in the Atletico Madrid forward, who is available for just €12m (£10.1m) due to a release clause in his contract.
The report goes on to outline that United - and other clubs - have even held talks with the Spain international's representatives as they weigh up their options in the market. AS Roma, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Fenerbahce are the other clubs credited with an interest in Morata.
Manchester United have been heavily linked with Joshua Zirkzee in recent weeks as they continue to scour the market looking for a striker who can support Hojlund next year. As well as being available for a modest fee, Morata also boasts Premier League experience from his time at Chelsea.
The 31-year-old, who is currently with Spain at Euro 2024, spent 18 months at Stamford Bridge earlier in his career, scoring 24 goals in 72 games. He has since spent time in Italy with Juventus and his native Spain with Atletico, whom he plundered 21 goals for last season.
Intriguingly, Morata was the subject of interest from Manchester United prior to joining Chelsea back in 2017. Ultimately, though, he stressed he was always going to pick Chelsea ahead of any other clubs after productive talks with then-Blues boss Antonio Conte.
Speaking to The Mail shortly after joining Chelsea, Morata revealed: "I had various offers this summer, not only Chelsea and Manchester United but also from different leagues. It was a good situation for me.
"The most important and best conversation I had was with Conte, he wanted me to come here. At the start of the summer, I didn’t know that Chelsea were interested in me. I thought they were in for a different player."