Alvaro Morata has revealed Cesar Azpilicueta was house-hunting on his behalf ahead of a potential move to Chelsea in 2016.
Morata joined the Blues for a club-record fee in the summer, but says he was close to leaving Real Madrid for west London 12 months earlier.
Antonio Conte had just arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2016, and had previously signed Morata when he was in charge of Juventus in 2014. But an attempt to lure Morata for a second time fell through.
In fact, So far along was the proposed deal that Azpilicueta was frustrated after working to find his compatriot a home in the capital.
"Last summer it was close," Morata told the Daily Mail. "Cesar Azpilicueta was a bit annoyed because he had already started house-hunting for me.
"We'd even got estate agents on board. This time Cesar has sorted everything.
"When I spoke to Conte last summer, I said 'If I'm going to leave Real Madrid, it will only be for Chelsea'.
"I remember I was with my wife after hearing him out and I said 'Chelsea are going to win the league this season.' And that's exactly what happened. Now we need to repeat it."
