Alvaro Morata is faster than

Gareth Bale and better in

the air than Diego Costa 

Alvaro Morata is on the brink of completing a move to Chelsea

from Real Madrid 

• Despite limited action last season, Morata still 
• scored 20 goals for Real Madrid 

Alvaro Morata began the summer convinced that Antonio

 Conte would move heaven and earth to bring him to London. 

And so it has proved. 

The 80m euros (£70m) that Real Madrid say Chelsea are
paying is a lot of money for someone who has been second
choice for his club behind Karim Benzema and second choice
for his country behind Diego Costa. But Conte believes,
and that could make all the difference to the way things turn out.

'I'm going to play for the coach who has put most faith in me,'
he told reporters as he boarded his flight for Heathrow at
 Los Angeles Airport on Wednesday. 

Morata has said his farewells to his Madrid team-mates and
manager, Zinedine Zidane 

Antonio Conte, the Chelsea manager, has been a long-term
admirer of Morata's talents 

Conversations have been constant between the two this summer.
 It was Conte who signed Morata for Juventus only to leave for
 the Italian national team job before they could ever work together.

For a while it seemed they would not be getting together this
summer either. Conte was being overruled by those at Chelsea
who preferred the Romelu Lukaku option and Jose Mourinho,
another who has stayed in contact with Morata, took over the
daily texting, keen to get the player he gave his Madrid debut to.

Ultimately it's Conte who gets his man and it should encourage
Chelsea supporters that both Mourinho and Conte rate Morata
so highly. In the first few difficult months of replacing Costa the
latter's support is going to be invaluable.

Right from the start he will want to make it clear he is not
Diego MK II. The spiky Brazilian was custom-built for battering
Premier League defences single-handedly. His attitude helped
him do so but there is not the same mean streak with Morata
neither on or off the pitch.

His last day in LA was further evidence of that. He could have
 donned the dark glasses and the headphones and shuffled
through passport control without so much as an Adios.
But he took time out to stop for Spanish reporters who had
followed him to the airport and give one last impromptu press
conference at the departures gate to journalists who had built
a decent relationship with him at Madrid.

He thanked Zinedine Zidane and the club's supporters –
both wanted Morata to stay. One of the reasons the price
is so high is that Real Madrid were more than happy
to keep the 24-year-old. 

Morata has arrived at Heathrow airport ahead of his £70m
 move to Chelsea from Madrid

Morata scored 20 goals last season for Madrid but had
 restricted first-team time

Morata hit 15 goals in La Liga - only one less than Atletico
Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann

He scored 20 goals last season despite playing only 34 per cent of the possible minutes during the season.
Only James Rodriguez and Pepe of the team's big name
players enjoyed less game-time and yet he finished with more
goals than Benzema and Barcelona's Neymar. 

He scored 15 goals in the league – only one goal fewer than
Antoine Griezmann.

There was an emotional send-off from the squad who chanted
 'Moraaata! Moraaata!' after he had interrupted their training
session to say goodbye to them following confirmation of the transfer. 

There was an embrace for Zidane who had tried to persuade
 him to stay, as had captain and Spain team-mate Sergio Ramos
but his mind was made up. This is a World Cup season and
 he did not want to risk staying for so long on the bench that
he stays behind Costa as Spain coach Julen Lopetegui's
first choice centre-forward. 

That hunger will also be important for him at Stamford Bridge.
This is a player who is sick of being Madrid's transfer pawn
for the last three seasons. 

Asked on Wednesday if he thought he could come back to
 the club a third time he said: 'I don't think so. I'm only
thinking about London now.'

He is not going to freeze on the big stage in England because
he's played in Clasicos and managed 27 goals and 19
assists during his time in Italy. 

Morata (centre) was on loan at Juventus for two seasons
 before returning to Madrid 

League data last April ranking Morata as faster than Madrid
team-mate Gareth Bale  

Morata is  renowned for his aerial ability which has seen him
compared to Fernando Morientes

He is quick. Marca took official league data last April to give a
ranking of Real Madrid's fastest players according to top speed
reached during games and Morata came in third behind defender
Nacho Fernandez and midfielder Mateo Kovacic. He was ahead
of fourth-placed Gareth Bale. 

The measures used gave an indication of explosive speed
more than pace but he should be able to offer that same ability
 to pull away into space that Costa gave.

He's better than Costa in the air. Fellow Real Madrid youth team
graduate Lucas Vazquez tells the story of being Real Madrid's youth
team centre-forward until Morata joined the club when he was immediately
told to get out on the wing and put the crosses in for a player whose superb heading technique would see him likened to Fernando Morientes at Madrid.

If there are doubts it will be around his ability to score in England and his temperament if he makes a bad start. He may have had the best goals-per-games ratio of any player in Spain apart from Lionel Messi last season but it's arguably easier to score goals coming off the bench in games than to have to break down a team's defence and score the all-important opening goal.

And at Juventus he admitted to losing confidence during one lean spell and even being told by the veteran keeper Gianluigi Buffon to do his crying at home. 

It was meant as solid advice. Buffon liked the young Spanish striker and wanted him to succeed. The message was – when you're down don't show your feelings because it will only energise your enemies. Put on a brave face.

Conte brought Morata to Juventus but then departed to take the Italy managerial job

Morata learned to put a brave face on when struggling during his tenure with Juventus

Morata's arrival is part of manager Conte's decision not use Diego Costa for the coming season

Part of his problem in Italy was the nagging doubt in the back of his mind that he would always be recalled by Madrid who only had to exercise their buy-back option. Neither was he helped by Conte having brought him in only to then leave the club.

This time things will be different. There is no returning to Spain and Conte is there to make sure the move works out. He already speaks fluent English and is pals with Spain team-mates Pedro and Cesar Azpilicueta, who he spoke to before making his decision.

Everything is in place for Morata to make Chelsea supporters forget about Costa and, in the process, force him out of the Spain starting line-up, so that he starts for his country next summer in Russia having had an excellent first season at Stamford Bridge.