Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is looking to sign Fernando Llorente as an understudy to striker Diego Costa at Stamford Bridge.
According to Miguel Angel Vasco of AS, Chelsea are in the hunt for a striker in the January transfer window, and Blues boss Antonio Conte is targeting Swansea forward Fernando Llorente as the man to serve as an understudy to first-choice attacker Diego Costa.
Conte’s second signing after moving to Chelsea was that of Belgian forward Michy Batshuayi. The Italian paid a colossal £32 million to Anderlecht for the striker’s services in hopes that he would be the man to take over the mantle from Costa when the time comes.
However, Batshuayi has not quite lived up to the billing and his lack of experience may be the case for it. Despite having the complete backing of the manager, the Belgian knows that he will have to up his game if he is to be a regular feature in Conte’s plans this season.
That being said, the Chelsea manager is already looking for strike options to pile the pressure on Costa. The Brazil-born Spaniard has had one of the seasons of his career as he leads the goal scoring charts in the Premier League – finding the back of the net on 13 occasions in 17 matches – averaging a goal every 115 minutes.
In the form of his life, the 28-year-old looks almost irreplaceable in the Chelsea setup and Batshuayi has not done quite enough to come on for the Spain international on a weekly basis.
Fernando Llorente, however, has impressed in his first season in the Premier League with Swansea City, and could make a move to Stamford Bridge should Conte come looking for him.
The Swans have not enjoyed the best of fortunes this campaign, losing both their managers in Francesco Guidolin and Bob Bradley, but Llorente has been on quite a roll. He has racked 6 goals in 11 starts and has become one of Swansea’s focal points in the final third.
At 31 years, Llorente is unlikely to have a high resale value, which could see the Swansea board capitalise on Chelsea’s interest. Given the Blues desperation to sign a new striker, they could end up overpaying for the former Juventus talisman.
