Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini believes that Alvaro Morata can be a huge success at Real Madrid and offered his best to his former team-mate before his switch to the Spanish giants.

Italy meet Spain in the knockout stages of the competition next week and speaking ahead of the game, Chiellini complimented the ability of the striker.

"First of all, he’s a special lad,” he said at a press conference on Friday, "I'm sorry to be greeting him as a former teammate but I'm happy for him, and I hope he can stay at Real Madrid.

"I’m sorry to be greeting him as a former teammate but I’m happy for him, and I hope he can stay at Real Madrid."

He continued by saying that he shouldn't be used as a "bargaining chip" by Real, pointing out his quality could add to the longevity of his career.

"He deserves to be the striker for Spain and Real, I’d be disappointed if he was used as a bargaining chip. He doesn’t deserve that.

"I don’t see why he can’t play at Real for 10 years, he has incredible talent and a lot of room for improvement.

"Over the past two years he’s grown so much on a tactical and human level. When he arrived he was a kid, he wasn’t considered a lad for the first team.

"We helped him grow every day, but the credit goes to him and his great talent. I hope he feels bad after Monday, but that could help him for the rest of his career."

Morata's agent has confirmed there has been some interest from Premier League clubs, but failed to go into specifics.