Juventus: What role will Alvaro Morata play this season?

Juventus have acquired Alvaro Morata on loan from Atletico Madrid, but how does he fit into the team in 2020-2021?

It’s been just one game, but Juventus already look like a different team under Andrea Pirlo. Their football was swift, direct, and quite lovely on Matchday 1, as they defeated Sampdoria 3-0. Exaggerating one performance against a bottom-half side would be unwise, but Juventini have legitimate reasons to be excited for what lies ahead.

The style of football, new midfielders Weston McKennie and Arthur Melo, and young star forward Dejan Kulusveski aren’t the only changes. Juve have reunited with striker Alvaro Morata, signing the Atletico Madrid man on loan for 10 million euros with an option to buy for 45 million euros.

Assuming Juventus don’t pick up the option to buy Morata, which is overpriced, this looks like a good deal on paper. At 27, Morata is a younger striker than the players Juve could have realistically signed, which included Luis Suarez and Edin Dzeko.

Dzeko was on Juve’s radar as a hold-up player, since he’s a great target man who can create for others. Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala, and Kulusevski would have all benefited from Dzeko’s grace, strength, and creativity.

Alvaro Morata won’t be a full-time starter for Juventus

Alvaro Morata is more of a poacher, but he can still help other forwards from a central position. He had seven goals and seven assists in his last season with Juventus in 2015-2016, and he also had eight goals and five assists the year before. His assist numbers have fallen off at Atletico Madrid these past two seasons, and he only had 12 goals in 2,105 minutes last season.

So Morata is less productive than Dzeko right now, and he’s even less productive than Suarez. But some of that was down to playing at Atletico, which didn’t exactly set La Liga alight as an attackign side.

Morata isn’t one of the best three forwards in Turin right now. If Juventus can find a way to get Ronaldo, Dybala, and Kulusevski on the pitch at the same time, then they should. But Morata works whenever Juve don’t have all three available – sometimes Dybala has fitness issues – and can start when the matchup dictates a No. 9 must play.

How Morata works with Ronaldo, whom he played with at Real Madrid and scored 15 goals in Los Blancos’ remarkable 2016-2017 campaign, will determine his success for the Bianconeri. The new striker in Turin needs to be able to work with Juve’s superstar player, feeding him the ball and making runs that help Ronaldo. Gonzalo Higuain, for all his faults, was good at this during the first half of the 2019-2020 Serie A campaign.

Morata will be a decoy player, a poacher, or a nice backup. Those are the three roles he will have. Ideally, Morata will be here for one season and head back to Madrid, because he is not a viable long-term solution and is not accomplished enough to be worth 45 million euros in spite of all the big clubs he’s played for. But Morata is a serviceable player who will score some goals for Juventus and should provide competent hold-up play.