Alvaro Morata transfer news: Striker still in shop window despite Real Madrid return as Nolito joins Manchester City

The Spain striker has all but secured one big move this summer but it is unlikely to be his last

(Getty)

One half of Spain’s new front two will be in the Premier League next season after Nolito agreed to join Manchester City. What remains to be seen is if the other half joins too – Real Madrid have bought Alvaro Morata back from Juventus but it may yet be so they can sell him to a rich Premier League buyer.

Morata was on the mark again for Spain at the Stade de Bordeaux against Croatia, giving him three goals for the tournament.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez loves to react to what happens in big summer tournaments. Two years ago he bought three of the stars of the World Cup when Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez and Keylor Navas all ended up at the Bernabeu.

With his re-capture of Morata, and the fact that Gareth Bale is the other player with three goals in the tournament, he will be smiling at Real Madrid’s current monopoly of the early running for Golden Boot.

Zinedine Zidane wants Morata to stay. He has told the club he wants the 23-year-old because he knows his touch, intelligence, unselfishness and ability to move into wide areas or come deep looking for the ball will mean he has no problem complimenting Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. He is also a homegrown player born and bred in Madrid.

All that will count for nothing however if Perez smells a sizeable profit, and Morata does not end up as Spain’s hero in France. He has always found local players unexciting and if Morata is sold again he will only be going the way of Alvaro Negredo, Roberto Soldado and Juan Mata before him.

The difference is that those three all became Spain internationals after they had left Real Madrid whereas Morata has, in effect, done so while at Madrid – the club confirmed on Tuesday that they would be paying the £23m to get back the player they sold to Juventus in 2014 for just £15m.

Arsene Wenger, Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho are all looking at Morata and nothing will be decided until the tournament ends. How well he has done in it will dictate his price and the level of Real’s determination to keep him or let him leave.

The deal that is done already is the one that takes Morata’s team-mate Nolito to Manchester City. His buy-out clause was set so low that Guardiola and City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain felt it too good an opportunity to turn down.

Nolito, left, has secured a move to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City (Getty)

They were also encouraged by a feeling at Barcelona that €18m was too much to pay for a player who will be 30 in October and most likely spend a lot of time watching Neymar, Luis Suarez and Leo Messi from the bench. Barça pulled out and City have taken full advantage.

They share none of Barça’s concerns and the player is happy too. On Tuesday night against Croatia, Nolito, full name Manuel Agudo Durán, was upfront alongside David Silva and Morata. For City next season he will be alongside Silva and Sergio Aguero.

A measure of what a coup it is will be the frustration felt by Barcelona coach Luis Enrique who managed Nolito both for Barça B and Celta Vigo. He wanted Barça to sign the player last January and had requested him again this summer. There is a strong bond between the two. It was Luis Enrqiue who got Nolito to believe in himself as a Barça B player, take greater care of his diet, and ultimately that helped convince him that he was good enough to take the jump into the unknown which he did at Benfica establishing himself in Portugal before coming back to play under Luis Enrique once more at Celta Vigo.

The Nolito-Morata magic waned slightly in the second half for Spain against Croatia and both were replaced as Bruno and Aritz Aduriz came on but they will be reinstated for the last-16.

Spain came into the tournament with major questions hanging over their ability to score but in just two matches Morata and Nolito have secured big moves. In Morata’s case it might not be his last one this summer.