Steve Nicol believes Chelsea signing Alvaro Morata will be a better deal than Lukaku

Steve Nicol believes that Chelsea would be better served moving for Alvaro Morata after losing out to Manchester United in the race for Romelu Lukaku. The Liverpool legend reckons that the Spaniard would prove to be a better deal for the Blues as they would get a good footballer for the same money over just power and strength. Lukaku scored 25 goals for Everton last season.

The Sun reports that Real have already sounded out the Blues for completing a deal for Morata and talks are likely to progress in the coming days.

Real Madrid are willing to sell Morata for a fee in the range of €80m (£70m, $89.5m) and are unlikely to go back on the amount as they know that the Blues are desperate for a striker, with the impending departure of Diego Costa. Morata was the second highest goalscorer in all competitions for Real last season with 20. However, with the World Cup coming up next year, the former Juventus man is ready to make a move to England for more time on the pitch.

"Chelsea are actually going to end up coming out okay on this if they get Morata," Nicol said on ESPN FC, as quoted by the Express. "For me, there is a couple of things Lukaku has that Morata doesn't. That is just power and strength. I'll have a football player over that every day of the week. He (Lukaku) has got a proven goalscoring record in a team that's not under severe pressure week in, week out."

Meanwhile, Chelsea have completed the signing of Germany defender Antonio Rudiger from AS Roma. Rudiger was an ever present figure in the Confederations Cup starting XI which they won beating Chile in the final. The 24-year-old played four out of five games for his national team, only missing out on the opening group stage match against Chile,

Manager Antonio Conte has identified the 24-year-old as an important part of the back three which currently has Gary Cahill, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta as the first choice defenders.