Abramovich approves £70m Chelsea bid for Morata, declares interest in Ronaldo

Chelsea owner, ​Roman Abramovich​, has ​​​sanction​ed ​£70m bid f​or​ Manchester United​ target, Alvaro Morata.

Morata, 24, has been heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford​ after ​Jose Mourinho identified him as his ​replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

United have already had a £52.4m approach knocked back by Real Madrid.

​Mirror reports that ​with Diego Costa set to leave Stamford Bridge after revealing he is no longer in Antonio Conte’s plans, Chelsea have strengthened their bid for Morata.

Real doled out around £25m to re-sign the Spain international last summer.

But he struggled for regular game time on his return to the club, starting just 14 league matches all season.

Meanwhile, Abramovich is said to be considering a move for Christiano Ronaldo.

The Russian billionaire declared interest afterRonaldo said he will leave Spain over tax fraud allegations.

​Reports say ​Abramovich is ​not bothered ​by the world record bounty needed to lure the Portugese supersta​r to​ Stamford Bridge.