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Alvaro Morata, the 21-year-old striker who was considered a potential starter at Real Madrid in years to come, has agreed to join Arsenal. Not on loan, but transferred.

The Madrid-born and academy-raised Spain Under-21 international has agreed personal terms with the Gunners, who have had him on their radar for quite some time, and tried to sign him during the January window (The Independent).

According to my sources, a meeting between Florentino Perez and Carlo Ancelotti at the time decided that no one, and especially not Morata or Fabio Coentrao, who was being chased by Manchester United, were going anywhere.

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Now the situation has changed but there’s still a lot of talking to be done, not least by Real Madrid who will ask Arsenal to show them the money. And, probably, quite a lot of money at that. No fee has been agreed between the clubs as the conversations have not taken place at that level. Yet.

Real will also, almost certainly, try to add various conditions to the deal which could well include first refusal on buying the player back should he leave the London club, and probably also a clause that will earn them a percentage should the player be transferred in the future.

So while it certainly seems likely that Morata can start brushing up on his English, there’s still a lot of talking to be done.

In truth, however, this is a deal that suits everyone.

The rise to prominence of Jese Rodriguez, who is now the first person that Real manager Carlo Ancelotti turns to when he’s looking to shake things up a bit, has left Morata further down the pecking order.

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And the strong likelihood that Real Madrid will go shopping for another forward in the summer means that the young striker, who has made 27 first-team appearances, will find it even more difficult to break into the starting line-up. Not surprisingly, he now sees his future as lying elsewhere.

A proven goalscorer, Morata struck no fewer than 45 times in 83 games for the Real Madrid B side, during which time he was also drafted in to the first-team squad.

He could well be the missing piece of the jigsaw that Arsene Wenger has been looking for, but I must repeat: there’s still some way to go before he dons an Arsenal shirt.