Alvaro Morata reveals he still regularly messages Jose Mourinho as Chelsea prepare for Manchester United clash

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Jose Mourinho has been texting Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata as he plots to inflict more misery on his former club's fading title hopes at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon.

Morata was a summer transfer target for Mourinho's Manchester United, but his contact with the player was not stopped by the Spaniard's choice to join Chelsea for £70.6million.

Instead, ahead of a game Morata admits could be decisive in Chelsea's stop-start season, Sportsmail can reveal the pair have been exchanging text messages.

Alvaro Morata admits he still texts Jose Mourinho despite signing for his rivals Chelsea

Morata played table football with fans at Stamford Bridge this week for a Hublot event

'We speak, not only this summer. I have a good relationship with Jose,' Morata said. 'He was my first coach in professional football and he gave me the chance to be a professional.

'He made me the first contact. Sometimes we send messages, not speaking about football, asking if everything's OK and sending some jokes.

'It's good and I appreciate these things because he was my first coach but now he's my rival. We need to win. It's wonderful playing with Mourinho and winning with Mourinho now it's time to try to win with Antonio (Conte) and it's a wonderful opportunity.' 

Morata and Mourinho's cosy talks come after a summer-long transfer window wrangle involving the Spain forward, Sunday's opponents United and Romelu Lukaku.

In the end, United went with the £75m then-Everton striker, who Chelsea had also eyed, while the Blues splashed a club-record £70.6million to sign Morata from Real Madrid.

Mourinho was expected to sign Morata to Manchester United in summer but it didn't happen

'I had the chance to go to Manchester United and other teams in the Premier League,' Morata told Sportsmail as he reflected on the saga.

He had his head turned from Mourinho's advances once Conte, who previously signed him for Juventus, Chelsea boardroom lynchpin Marina Granovskaia and technical director Michael Emenalo got involved.

'The important thing is I'm part of Chelsea and I'm very happy with this. Now it's time to fight for the blue shirt. I want to play well and win with this shirt,' he added.

'For sure, Antonio, Michael, Marina, all of them called me this summer and there was no chance I wasn't coming to Chelsea. They demonstrated to me that they really wanted me.' But not everything has been rosy for Chelsea's new No 9 so far. A lightning start of seven goals in eight games has been followed by hamstring trouble and a six-game drought.

His team-mates, similarly have stumbled. Tuesday night's 3-0 hammering at Roma put the spotlight on Conte again after three defeats in their first 10 Premier League games.

Instead Morata joined Chelsea after receiving calls from an enthusiastic Antonio Conte

While victory on Sunday would take them within a point of second-placed United, a fourth Premier League defeat in just 11 games could see them slip 12 points off Manchester City's title pace.

Conte subjected his players to a video nasty of their mistakes in Rome at the training ground this week and now, Morata says, this is Chelsea's moment to prove their champion quality.

'We know our coach is a winner,' he said. 'For winning you need to work hard and to pass together through hard moments. Now it's a good moment to demonstrate that we are a good team, that we have character and that we can play against Manchester United with a good performance.

'We always want to win but this match especially because if we take the three points we have the opportunity to be there and near Manchester City and United.

'This week, we lost against a very good team and everyone thinks the world ends. But if we take the three points, playing bad, in the last minute, we'll be the best team of England [again] and into a fight for the Premier League.'

Alvaro Morata was at the Hublot Big Bang Chelsea FC watch reveal, Stamford Bridge. Find out more about the partnership at www.hublot.com.