Rome (AFP) – Real Madrid will exercise their right to buy back the contract of their former player Álvaro Morata from Juventus, the Spanish club confirmed on Tuesday.

“Real Madrid have informed Juventus FC of their decision to salvage the federative rights on the player Álvaro Morata, who will join up with the first team for pre-season training under the command of Zinedine Zidane,” the Madrid club said in a brief statement.

Juventus sporting director Giuseppe Marotta had earlier revealed that the Spanish club had informed them they would exercise their right to repurchase the Spanish international.

“In the coming days, they will put it in writing,” Marotta said in comments reported by Gazzetta dello Sport. “We’ll see what we can do but the possibilities of keeping him are reduced.”

Morata, 23, arrived at Juventus in mid 2014, and has scored 27 goals in 93 matches. 

According to Italian media reports, his contract included a buyback clause in favour of Real Madrid of up to 30 million euros ($33.9m).

Morata has 11 caps with Spain and scored a double during their 3-0 Euro 2016 win against Turkey on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Juventus boss stressed that the club wanted to keep Paul Pogba amid reports Real are set to bid for the France international.

“We haven’t received any formal offer and we don’t want to negotiate,” said Morata. Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola said on Monday that talks had begun between Real and Juventus for Pogba.