# Álvaro Morata: Best on One List, Last on Another
> Real Madrid to Como, Euro 2024 captain to a World Cup snub — Álvaro Morata seen through 13 rankings, where the answer changes with every question.
*By YPB Team · Published July 27, 2026 · https://youpick.best/articles/alvaro-morata-ranked-many-ways*
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Álvaro Morata — one striker, 13 very different rankings. Photo: Biso, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Álvaro Morata has worn the shirts of Real Madrid, Juventus, Chelsea, Atlético Madrid, AC Milan, Galatasaray and Como — eight clubs across four countries — and captained Spain to both Euro 2024 and the 2023 Nations League. He sits fourth on Spain's all-time scorers list, with 37 goals in 87 caps, behind only David Villa, Raúl and Fernando Torres. That is a lot of different ways to measure one striker.
Below he turns up in 13 rankings — sometimes near the very top, sometimes nowhere near it — each a different way of asking the same question: how good is Álvaro Morata, really?
> The catch is that the answer keeps changing. Ask a different question and the most-wanted striker of his generation becomes a different player entirely.
## The best striker Spain has ever produced?
Start with the obvious one. The Spanish federation lists Morata fourth among the country's all-time scorers, so he genuinely belongs in this conversation — but Villa, Raúl and Torres are long shadows to climb out of.
National-team royalty — a hard field to top. Play it →
## Narrow it to this decade
Shrink the window to the 2020s and his case sharpens fast. Few Spaniards have found the net for the national team as often since 2020, so this is where the argument for Morata is at its strongest.
A tighter window, a stronger case. Play it →
## The captain who lifted the trophy
He wore the armband and raised the Euro 2024 trophy for Spain. Whether he was the team's *best* player that summer is a different question entirely, with Rodri, Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo all in the room.
The captain, up against a golden generation. Play it →
## Chelsea's number 9
The move to Stamford Bridge in 2017 came with a club-record fee and the job of ending Chelsea's search for a striker. Line him up against the club's other No. 9s and Didier Drogba casts a very long shadow.
A big fee doesn't guarantee a high finish. Play it →
## A Juventus number 9, twice over
Two spells in Turin, two Serie A titles, and a semi-final winner against Real Madrid on the way to the 2015 Champions League final. Good company — even if the top of the Juve list is guarded by giants.
Twice a Juventus No. 9, among Turin royalty. Play it →
## The boyhood club
He came home to Atlético Madrid not once but twice, a big-game scorer under Diego Simeone. Among the club's all-time strikers, though, he is fighting for room with Griezmann, Agüero, Falcao and Forlán.
Home twice over, in crowded company. Play it →
## A La Fábrica graduate
Before all the transfers, there was Real Madrid's academy. Morata came off the same production line as Raúl, Casillas and Guti — which is exactly why a mid-pack finish here would be no insult at all.
Same academy as the legends. Play it →
## Conte's striker
Antonio Conte signed him to lead the Chelsea line, one of a long list of players the Italian has coached. Measured against Hazard, Kanté, Pirlo and Kane, that list is not short on stars.
One name on a very starry team sheet. Play it →
## Simeone's centre-forward
Four seasons under Diego Simeone earn a place among the manager's best players. Whether they earn a high one — with Griezmann, Godín, Oblak and Falcao on the same list — is the whole argument.
A Simeone regular, among Cholo's finest. Play it →
## Eight clubs, four countries
Real Madrid, Juventus, Chelsea, Atlético, Milan, Galatasaray, Como — Morata has been wanted by nearly every big club he could reach. This is the one list his whole career was quietly built for.
A passport as busy as anyone's. Play it →
## The other side of the ledger
Now the unflattering lens. That club-record move to Chelsea, and the goals that never quite came, put him on a list nobody wants to top — the kind where climbing high is the whole insult.
A list where a high finish stings. Play it →
## The debate that won't die
The "overrated" tag has trailed Morata for a decade — chances at the biggest clubs, goals that too often went missing. Put it to a vote and he is up against some heavyweight names carrying the same accusation.
The argument that never quite goes away. Play it →
## Watching from home
Spain won the 2026 World Cup in July. Their Euro 2024-winning captain wasn't in the squad — left out by Luis de la Fuente. Morata had said he hoped to be called up "even if it's just to carry the equipment." Instead, he joins a list of big names who watched the tournament from the outside.
The captain who lifted a trophy, then missed the biggest one. Play it →
## One striker, thirteen answers
Fourth on Spain's all-time list and a strong shout for best of his decade; a big-fee cautionary tale and a fixture in the "overrated" debate. Álvaro Morata is all of those at once — it depends entirely on which question you ask. That is the same trick behind every ranking here: judging things [two at a time](/articles/what-is-pairwise-comparison), one matchup at a time.
Got a player who turns up everywhere? Build a ranking and find out where they land.
## More rankings, more angles
- [How Many Ways Can You Rank Ferran Torres?](/articles/how-many-ways-to-rank-ferran-torres) — the teammate who scored the 2026 final winner
- [How Many Ways Can You Rank James Rodríguez?](/articles/how-many-ways-to-rank-james-rodriguez) — another beautiful, uneven career
- [How Many Ways Can You Rank Luka Modrić?](/articles/how-many-ways-to-rank-luka-modric) — a Real Madrid midfield great, reframed
