Madrid, June 22 (IANS): Real Madrid have officially announced that Spanish forward Alvaro Morata will return from Turin giants Juventus and "will join up with the first team for pre-season training" ahead of the next football season.

According to an official statement released on Tuesday on the Spanish heavyweights' website: "Real Madrid C.F. 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."

Earlier on the day, Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta said that the Spanish side has notified him that it will "exercise the right to buy back" Morata, noting that the chances of the Spaniard to stay at the Italian club are "slim", reports Efe.

Madrid had an option to buy back Morata for a pre-determined fee, reportedly 30 million euros (approximately $33.8 million), as part of the deal which saw the 23-year-old join Juventus two years ago, and confirmed that they had done so.