5 players looking to rejuvenate their careers in 2018/19

#4 Alvaro Morata

If he stays at Chelsea, Alvaro Morata could bounce back to form in 2018/19

Despite current reports linking him with a move away from Stamford Bridge – swap deals with AC Milan or Juventus, with either Gianluigi Donnarumma or Gonzalo Higuain heading to Chelsea have been rumoured – as of writing, Spanish striker Alvaro Morata is still a Chelsea player. The big question is then; can he rebuild his career with the Blues under new boss Maurizio Sarri?

It’s a tricky one. Morata started 2017/18 on fire, scoring goals for fun – including a hat-trick in September – and by December he’d already scored 10 Premier League goals for his new club. The fans seemed to love him too, dedicating chants to him to taunt Tottenham fans. But a sending off in an FA Cup game against Norwich in January for dissent seemed to mark a turning point, and from there, his form tailed off badly.

Morata scored just one more league goal in 2018, finishing the season with a disappointing return of 11, and many Chelsea fans suggested they’d have been better off sticking with Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi as their first choice hitman instead. But realistically, Morata wasn’t the only Chelsea player to fade from form as the season went on – most of the squad struggled as boss Antonio Conte clearly lost the faith of his dressing room.

Under Sarri though – the man who helped the likes of Higuain and Dries Mertens to hit arguably the best form of their careers – there’s no reason why Morata can’t rebuild his Chelsea career and consistently deliver the goals they expected when he first came onto the scene in the summer of 2017. Whether he stays or goes, though, 2018/19 is his big chance to kickstart his career again.