Cape Town - Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata has had to backtrack on an interview in which he said he misses Juventus and never should have left Italy.
The Spain international spent two successful seasons in Serie A before returning to boyhood club Real Madrid, where he felt that he was right back at square one despite proving his quality with Juve.
He went on to have a prolific season in his second spell with Los Blancos, but was never first-choice, hence his transfer to the Blues.
"There were contractual agreements to respect," he said of his return to Madrid. "The disappointment was huge: I went right back to the start.
"They treated me like the kid I was before the two seasons in Italy. I arrived (in Italy) feeling like a boy and I returned feeling like a true player. I should never have left Italy and Juve."
Despite saying he would "like to live in Italy", Morata insists he is happy at Stamford Bridge, and thinks they had "a communication problem with this interview".
"All I said was I was very happy at Juventus," Morata insisted. "In the interview I wanted to say probably after my career I don't live in London. But I'm really happy in London.
"I really like London now, but probably in the future when I want to bring my children to school I prefer to go back to my country. I'm talking only about the traffic & lots of people. But it's a great city... I really enjoy London."
Morata even said that he would happily extend his stay in England. "If they offered me 10 years, I'd probably sign."