Any striker with an offer on the table from Tottenham Hotspur must feel like an up-and-coming thespian signing up to a new Hollywood blockbuster alongside Leonardo di Caprio.
There’s always the risk that you’re going to be outshone by one of the finest in the game.
That’s certainly how Alvaro Morata felt when Spurs came knocking back in 2015.
“He said to me: ‘Why do you want me if you have Harry Kane?’,” then-Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino recalls, via The Independent.
“You know, if you try to sign a striker, they will say: ‘Eh gaffer, you want me for what? To be on the bench? I can’t compete with Harry Kane!’.
“It’s so difficult to convince good players to come and then be on the bench.”
Seven years on, Spanish publication Cadena COPE claim that a return to London is back on the cards for a striker who blew hot and cold under Antonio Conte at Chelsea, flitting from unplayable to anonymous, often in the same game.
Morata is expected to leave Juventus following the £62 million signing of Dusan Vlahovic.
Barcelona were in talks for the one-time Real and Atletico Madrid frontman earlier this month (Football Italia).
The arrival of Ferran Torres, however, seems have closed the door on a return to La Liga for a man who, despite all his critics, has scored 23 goals in 50 caps for the Spain national team, all the while accumulating an enviable collection of trophies at club level.
Will Alvaro Morata turn down Tottenham again?
And unfortunately for another of Morata’s suitors, there is a 6ft 2ins elephant in the room.
If Morata turned down Spurs back in 2015 – when Kane had just one season of regular goalscoring under his belt – surely he’d do the same in 2022?
Kane, these days, is Tottenham’s captain, their undoubted talisman, even if his form has dipped following a summer of intense speculation.
Cadena COPE claim that Spurs want Morata on loan, a short-term deal that could see the 29-year-old move to England from January to June.
Conte has made no secret about his desire for more competition in the final third. And, though Morata didn’t exactly set the world alight at Stamford Bridge, a player he knows and trusts would be welcomed with open arms.
But with no European football, and with reports linking Kane to Manchester City growing cold, history may be about to repeat itself as far as Morata is concerned.
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