 On 17 January 2012, was reported that Emelec accepted a US$2 million bid of Chilean Primera División club Universidad de Chile for Morante.Due to a season-long injury, Morante has lost his starting line-up spot, thus forced Sampaoli to send him on loan to 2011 Copa Sudamericana finals rivals LDU Quito for the first half of the 2013 season.Morante returned to Ecuador on loan to play for LDU Quito.