Chelsea manager Antonio Conte admitted he would have to wait until the end of the season to answer whether Alvaro Morata can be as good as Tottenham striker Harry Kane.
The Blues spent around £60million on landing Morata in a club-record transfer from Real Madrid this summer, though Conte recently admitted Kane was his favourite striker in the world.
The Spurs front-man won the Golden Boot for the second season running last term, scoring an incredible 29 goals in 30 Premier League games for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Conte’s words on Kane prompted Pochettino to declare that Morata wouldn’t have wanted a move to Tottenham due to the England man’s presence up front, though Conte has issues his own response to that claim.
Speaking about comparing the two players, the Italian insisted they would have to wait until after this season is over to debate who is the better player, with Morata not previously playing in England prior to his move to Stamford Bridge this summer.
‘Morata is a really good player and he can compete with every striker in the world,’ Conte said.
‘He is a young player and my task is also to help him improve, to exploit his quality because I know he has great quality.
‘My task is this – to improve his quality to become one of the best strikers in the world.
‘Is he on the same level as Kane? I can’t reply to this question because Kane played in the English league and Morata played in the Spanish and Italian leagues. After this season, I can reply to you in the right way.’
Morata scored 20 goals for Real Madrid last season, though the bulk of those came as a substitute as he failed to regularly start up front for Zinedine Zidane’s side.
Still, the 24-year-old contributed to Los Blancos winning a La Liga and Champions League double and also attracted interest from big names like Manchester United and AC Milan earlier in this transfer window.
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