Alvaro Morata bemoans high London house prices despite earning £160k-a-week at Chelsea
Spanish striker revealed he is looking to buy a property in London after renting since his move from Madrid with pundits Gary Lineker and Frank Lampard showing little sympathy
CHELSEA striker Alvaro Morata is already becoming a true Londoner - by complaining about the cost of renting a property in the capital.
Morata moved to Stamford Bridge from Real Madrid for £65million in the summer, earning a reported £160,000-a-week.
The Spanish striker was quick to quash suggestions he was not happy with his lot in England and insists he is adjusting well.
But the forward revealed he does still have a few issues following Chelsea’s defeat to Roma, admitting: “I’m very happy, I really like London.
“It’s only, a lot of traffic, in future I look to buy an apartment, I pay the high rental prices.
“Sometimes when I arrive at home I speak to my wife in English and she says, ‘I don’t know what you are talking about’.”
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On BT Sport’s Champions League coverage, host Gary Lineker was not showing too much sympathy for Morata, who should be able to afford the £4,000-a-month high-end rental prices in central London.
Lineker said: “Well he doesn’t seem to have settled in too quickly. I mean he’s worried about the prices, I mean the players, what they earn nowadays, I think he can manage a decent rental.”
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Chelsea legend Frank Lampard was on pundit duty and struggled to see what Morata had to complain about.
Lampard said: “I think he’ll be alright - I’m surprised that’s the main worry he’s got.”
The 24-year-old forward is not the first foreign Chelsea star to baulk at London’s eye-watering property prices.
German Michael Ballack, who moved to Stamford Bridge on a free transfer from Bayern Munich in 2006 and was paid £130,000-a-week, also complained about the cost of bricks and mortar in the capital.
Ballack said on his arrival: “London is extremely expensive, it is better to rent.
"My family and I have found a house in Wimbledon."
Former Arsenal forward Andrey Arshavin got a shock when he opened his first pay packed after moving to England from Zenit St Petersburg in 2009.
Arshavin was earning £80,000 a week and wanted a new contract when he found out he was liable for 50 per cent tax in the UK, compared to just 13 per cent in Russia.
He said: "I have a problem with my contract, certain nuances emerged linked to taxation and some other things.
"As a result, I’m getting less money than I expected, it’s not critical but I still need to put it right.
"It’s important to understand clearly and in detail what money you are going to get and what taxes to pay, so that there are no unpleasant surprises of the kind I am facing now. "
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