Alvaro Morata denies Antonio Conte phoned him about leaving Real Madrid for Chelsea

Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata has denied news stories suggesting Antonio Conte has made a personal phone to convince him over a Chelsea move ahead of the 2017-18 season. The Spaniard said he is not currently thinking about leaving the Santiago Bernabeu, but will assess his situation over the summer.

Morata, 24, returned to Madrid during last summer's transfer window after Real activated an option to re-sign him from Juventus.

It was expected that Los Blancos were only forcing the clause to sell the player on for a profit, with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United all interested.

However, Zinedine Zidane opted to keep the Spaniard in his ranks in order to serve as back-up for the BBC trio formed by Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.

Morata confirmed earlier in September that Conte did try to lure him to Chelsea in the summer by launching stunning offer worth around €70m (£59.9m, $74.6m). The Italian boss previously recruited him for Juventus in the summer of 2014 – although they never worked together as Conte resigned from his post with the Serie A giants just days later.

"Chelsea showed the most interest," Morata confirmed, as quoted by ESPN. "Antonio Conte had already signed me for Juventus. And it was a very good offer this time. I would have been the most expensive Spanish player ever. They offered roughly €70m but Real Madrid said that they have me in their plans, and that was always a dream of mine."

Cadena Ser recently reported the Chelsea boss was ready to make a new attempt to secure the Real Madrid striker in the coming window after identifying him as the perfect replacement for Diego Costa – who could leave Stamford Bridge in the summer to move to the Chinese Super League.

The Spanish radio station added that Conte "still speaks almost every week with Morata" by phone and that the striker is likely to leave Real Madrid in order to secure more regular playing time

However, asked by Cadena Cope whether Conte has called about a Chelsea switch, the Real Madrid star said: "He must be calling to my old mobile because nothing has come to me. Maybe he doesn't have my new number."

Morata once again proved his worth on Wednesday night (April 5) after scoring a hat-trick to lead his side to a 4-2 victory over Leganes in a rare starting appearance.

The Spaniard was delighted with his performance but suggested he could still consider a summer move away from Real Madrid once the season ends, after having only started nine La Liga games this campaign.

"The most important thing is the team. We are focused on winning as much as possible and we do not have time to think about individual situations," Morata said, before adding: "It is clear that I like to win, to score and to play but I am available for the team. Now I cannot even think about [a potential summer move]. The most important thing of the season is coming and when everything finishes we will see."