AC Milan should prioritize Chelsea’s Morata over Juve’s Higuain

AC Milan are in the market for a new marquee center forward, and Alvaro Morata is the man they should get.

Gonzalo Higuain, the 30-year-old Juventus striker, is in the middle of a transfer tussle involving both Chelsea and AC Milan.

Maurizio Sarri reportedly wants the Argentinean to join him at his new club, while Milan are deciding between him and Alvaro Morata.

Milan are preparing to offload Leonardo Bonucci, a year after they pulled off the major coup of attracting him from Juventus.

Juventus would potentially be interested in sending Higuain the other way as part of a swap deal, as the striker is now surplus to requirements after the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo.

At Higuain’s age, though, and for a fee of more than £60 million, Morata would be a much better signing for Milan.

Morata, not 26 until the end of October, would represent far better value, costing a similar amount to Higuain given Chelsea want to recoup the fee they paid Real Madrid for the Spaniard’s services last summer.

But Morata is more mobile than Higuain, and would be more suited to Milan’s style, able to bring the best out of Suso and Hakan Calhanoglu by running in behind and causing problems with his pace.

With those two in particular threading balls into him, Morata would thrive.

Higuain got 16 goals for Juventus last season in Serie A, but Morata could get close to that or even beat it with the right service, playing the right role in Gennaro Gattuso’s system.

He was involved in 13 goals in 29 league games when at Juventus in 2014-15 as well as grabbing five in the Champions League, including the goal that got them to the final and a consolation in the final itself, and has 13 in 23 for national team Spain.

Arguably the best spell of Morata’s career came when he was at Juventus, and getting his confidence levels back to where they were then will be crucial; Milan could provide a platform from which to do that.

Morata has a point to prove following an unsuccessful Chelsea stint, but a change of scenery could make all the difference.

At Chelsea, Morata struggled with the physicality of the Premier League, often seen complaining to officials when he was frustrated at a lack of a decision, and Serie A is a better fit for him.

There is no question over his quality, with some good moments coming in his time at Stamford Bridge, where he notched a total of 15 goals, and he has excellent technique, so there is no reason why he cannot succeed elsewhere.

At the reported price, both Morata and Higuain would represent gambles, but at least with Morata there is scope to improve and a potential sell-on value should the switch not work out.

If it is indeed a straight choice between Higuain and Morata, Milan should go for the latter.