How Alvaro Morata played a role in ushering in Juventus Next Gen project

A report explains how the rapid rise of Alvaro Morata helped spark the Juventus Next Gen project.

The Spaniard currently plays for Atletico Madrid and is enjoying one of the most prolific campaigns of his career.

The 31-year-old had also represented other top clubs around Europe, and had two stints at Juventus.

The striker initially arrived in Turin in 2014 at the age of 21. At the time, Morata had already made his breakthrough at Real Madrid, but opted to leave the club in search of additional playing time.

According to The Athletic via IlBianconero, Juventus noticed that the Spain international was comprehensively more experienced when compared to the club’s own youth products.

Despite his tender age, Morata already had more than 100 professional appearances under the belt, including 52 with Real Madrid’s first team and 83 with Castilla (the club’s B team).

These were deemed astonishing figures compared to someone like Leonardo Spinazzola, who is almost the same age.

The Italian wingback signed for Juventus at the age of 19 but was considered unready for the first team. Therefore, he had to undergo a host of loan spells before finally joining Max Allegri’s squad at aged 25.

Therefore, Morata’s growth played an important role in convincing the club to launch the Next Gen project which eventually saw the light in 2018 (initially under the banner of Juventus U23).

Since then, several youngsters have earned promotions to the senior squad after impressing with the Next Gen in Serie C.

The list includes the likes of Nicolo Fagioli, Fabio Miretti, Matias Soulé and Kenan Yildiz.