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MaltaToday 4 June 2017

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52 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 4 JUNE 2017 FOOTBALL Real's Morata agrees to €60m move to Milan AC Milan have agreed terms with Alvaro Morata over a €60 million move and the club's sporting director Massimiliano Mirabelli hopes to tie up a deal for the Spain striker with Real Madrid in Cardiff this weekend. Mirabelli travelled to Wales on Friday where Real clashed with Juventus in the Champions League final at the Millennium Stadium, but the Milan director will also use the trip to negotiate for Morata. Milan have money to spend this summer following the re- cent takeover by a Chinese con- sortium and the Rossoneri have made Morata their top target in the transfer window, with Carlos Bacca set to leave San Siro and the club in the market for a top- class replacement. It is being reported that the Spanish striker will earn wages of around €6.5-7m. Madrid originally sold Morata to Juventus in 2014 after the striker appeared as a substitute in the 2014 Champions League final win against Atletico in May of that year, and history seems set to repeat itself as the player now looks likely to move on after another European showpiece in Cardiff this weekend. Morata is due to marry Ital- ian girlfriend Alice Campello in Venice later in June and she is known to favour a return to her homeland over a move to Eng- land, where Chelsea are interest- ed in the Spain striker. Manches- ter United have also been linked with a move. Juventus would also be keen to take back Morata, but the Ital- ian champions are unwilling to buy back their former player for at least double the amount they received from Madrid last sum- mer, when the striker returned home for a cut-price €30m. Madrid may decide to accept a €60m deal given that they would still be doubling their money on a player who came through their youth system and has always be- haved impeccably with the Span- ish side, but will ask Milan to up their offer for the 24-year-old. Morata has more goals (20) than starts (19) for Madrid in 2016-17 and his goal ratio is bet- ter than any other player in the squad. However, there remain doubts at Real over his ability to become one of the world's best strikers. The player is frustrated at his lack of appearances this term, which is precisely what hap- pened the first time around at the Santiago Bernabeu, but Ma- drid are happy with Karim Ben- zema and allowing Morata to leave will free up space for a big summer signing. Madrid's top target is Monaco's Kylian Mbappe and the sale of Morata would go some way to funding a world-record move for the young French forward. CHARLOTTE Wingfield won another gold medal for Malta in the Small Na- tions Games being held in San Marino. Wingfield secured her second gold medal and Malta's fourth in the Wom- en's 200m and broke a na- tional record after register- ing a time of 23.78 seconds. The twenty-two year old finished the race ahead of Gudbjorg Jona Bjarnadottir of Iceland who won silver. The bronze medal was won by Patrizia Van Der Weken of Luxembourg. Wingfield added a third medal when she anchored the 4x100m relay. The relay team composed of Rachel Fitz, Annalise Vassallo and Sarah Busuttil, completed the distance in 46.31 sec- onds to finish behind gold medallists Luxembourg and ahead of Cyprus. A bronze medal was also won by Ian Paul Grech in the men's triple jump. In addition, Rebecca Sare` also won another bronze medal during the women's triple jump. The third bronze medal of the day was won during the men's skeet as Vasilev Bozhidar placed third. Following these results, Malta's tally of medals went up to 30. The Small Nations Games came to an end yesterday evening with the closing ceremony in Serravalle. Gold medallist shooter Gi- anluca Chetchuti was Mal- ta's flag bearer. Unhappy at a lack of opportunities at the Santiago Bernabeu Alvaro Morata has agreed terms on a return to Italy with the Rossoneri Charlotte Wingfield Photo: Dominic Borg

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