Alvaro Morata would 'probably' sign 10-year Chelsea contract as he allays fears over early exit

Alvaro Morata has moved to allay fears over a premature exit from Chelsea by clarifying comments made to the Italian press that suggested that the former Juventus and Real Madrid striker could not see himself living in London for very long.

Quotes attributed to Morata in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday (30 October) revealed that the Spanish international, who has scored seven goals in 13 appearances since arriving at Stamford Bridge in a club-record £60m ($79.1m) deal in July, found there was "too much stress" in the English capital and "too many metropolises".

Morata was keen to quickly set the record straight on the apparent confusion when he was selected to appear in front of the press before Chelsea take on AS Roma in their latest Champions League Group C clash at the Stadio Olimpico on Tuesday night.

"We have a problem with the interview, all I said was that I was happy at Juventus," he told reporters, per football.london. "I want to say in the future when I finish my career I move from London, but I am happy in London with my wife.

"I really like London now, but when I finish my career and I have a child I might want to move back to my country, this is normal. It is stressful only because of the traffic, but it is a wonderful city."

Morata, as a firm signal of his contentedness, even suggested that he could remain at Chelsea beyond the end of his current five-year contract, stating that he would probably agree to a mammoth decade-long deal if it was offered to him.

"I want to say again, we have a problem of understanding the interview, if Chelsea offered me ten years I would probably sign it," he added. "If I can make good and improve I can maybe stay here longer than five years."

Morata has failed to find the back of the net in five consecutive games across all competitions but is confident that he is now 100% fit following a hamstring injury suffered against Manchester City that was initially expected to rule him out for up to two months.

"Now I am 100%, in the last games I was not at the best of the physical form. But now I am better. It was hard, I stopped 20 days when finally I had the right condition. Now I feel better," he said.

Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante has missed each of the club's last five matches with a hamstring problem sustained on international duty with France, although Conte reiterated his hope after Saturday's slender defeat of Bournemouth that the reigning PFA Player of the Year would be back in contention to face Roma. Victor Moses remains sidelined with his own hamstring issue, however.

"We had three starters out, but we have recovered [Danny] Drinkwater and Kante," Conte told the assembled media in Italy. "Moses needs more time. We have to take it game by game and try to do our best in every game."

Specifically pressed on Kante's availability for Roma, he added: "Kante trained with us, also before the game at Bournemouth. I think it is very important in this moment to speak to the player and important the player's sensation.

"I was a player and I know very well after an injury, a bad injury, it is very important to listen to the player which are the sensations. For him and the team, tomorrow we try to make the best decision."