Chelsea's Alvaro Morata takes home Sport360's Premier League Flop of the Season award

Tom Biggs 16:03 15/05/2018
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Chelsea's Alvaro Morata

    With the Premier League campaign over, we’re handing out our end-of-season awards. The latest trophy isn’t one any player would want to get their hands on however, as we announce our Flop of the Season.

    Alvaro Morata

    When Antonio Conte decided that Diego Costa wasn’t in his plans for the 2017/18 season, despite him playing such an influential part in Chelsea’s success last term, it was imperative that whoever replaced the controversial striker hit the ground running.

    Having missed out on Romelu Lukaku, Conte and Chelsea paid Real Madrid nearly €70 million for Alvaro Morata. The Spaniard made a positive start to life at Stamford Bridge, netting in four of his first six games, including a hat-trick against Stoke City, but the goals only told half the story.

    Morata lacked the dominating presence of Costa that had been so crucial to Chelsea last season, and he struggled to find the net if it wasn’t with his head. It was no surprise when Conte signed Olivier Giroud in January.

    The Frenchman started the FA Cup semi-final and the crunch match with Liverpool, showing how far out-of-favour Morata had fallen.

    Serie A side Juventus are linked with a move for the striker this summer, and Chelsea would be better off cutting their losses now.

    Worthy mentions

    Renato Sanches

    Renato Sanches had a shocking season with Swansea City.

    Renato Sanches had a shocking season with Swansea City.

    It’s fair to say it couldn’t have gone much worse for youngster Sanches, who joined Swansea City for a season on loan from German giants Bayern Munich. The 20-year-old, who had helped Portugal win the European Championships in 2016, was expected to make a big impact for the Swans, but failed to impress. In total, he made just 15 appearances as Swansea suffered relegation.

    Tiemoue Bakayoko

    Tiemoue Bakayoko struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League

    Tiemoue Bakayoko struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League

    Another transfer that failed to work out for Conte and Chelsea. While he has made 43 appearances in all competitions, the move hasn’t worked out as expected, with the former Monaco man not able to match up to former midfielder Nemanja Matic alongside N’Golo Kante. Errors, a lack of positional understanding, and poor passing mean Bakayoko has a long way to go to prove why Chelsea paid €40 million for his services.

    Davy Klaassen

    Life at Everton has not gone as planned for Davy Klaassen

    Life at Everton has not gone as planned for Davy Klaassen

    The Dutchman’s move from Ajax to Everton has been a disaster. The attacking midfielder perhaps knew life wouldn’t be easy when both Wayne Rooney and Glyfi Sigurdsson signed in the same summer, but he wouldn’t have envisaged it going so badly. He made 16 appearances in all competitions, with just seven of those coming in the Premier League, while he failed to score a single goal.

    Recommended