Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata has committed his future to the club, despite speculation hanging over him for much of the summer.
The Spain international forward, who arrived at the club from Real Madrid last summer, endured a difficult first campaign at Stamford Bridge and saw his place at the club thrust into doubt as he fell out of favour with manager Antonio Conte, despite scoring 11 league goals and getting a further six assists.
The ex-Juventus boss, though, was sacked in July to be replaced with Maurizio Sarri, and the 25-year-old is optimistic about his prospects in the months ahead.
And Morata has said that he never envisaged a change of scene over the summer.
“On the first day of pre-season I spoke to [Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia] and with the manager and I said: 'I want to stay at Chelsea,’” he told The Daily Mirror.
“They told me: ‘We have a lot of confidence in you and we want you to stay too.’ So everything was perfect.
“All the people said I wanted to leave, that I was not happy in London but its not true. Now I have taken another house, a bigger one, near to Cobham.
“My wife is very happy. When everyone is talking about the possibility to leave I am here looking for a house. So the story is finished and I can't wait for Sunday’s game.”
Morata, who has taken the No.29 jersey this season to mark the birthday of his new born twin boys last month, says that regaining the Premier League title has to come above his personal ambitions for the season.
“For me I prefer to score 10 goals and take the trophy. I want to win the Golden Boot but in England in the last year the Golden Boot winner didn’t take any trophies,” he said.
Chelsea’s first opportunity to win silverware arrives on Sunday, when they meet Premier League champions Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley.
The last time they won the trophy was in 2009, when they defeated Manchester United on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Since, they have lost on four occasions, including to London rivals Arsenal 12 months ago, albeit only after a shootout.