Tottenham Hotspur have announced the signing of Fernando Llorente from Swansea City, in a contract that will last until 2019.
Tottenham Hotspur have made an official statement to confirm that Fernando Llorente has completed his move to join Mauricio Pochettino’s squad. The announcement on the site does not mention anything about the transfer fee but BBC believes the amount to be in the range of £15 million.
The deal for Llorente did prove to be quite shocking since the former Swansea striker was linked with Chelsea for the longest time, before Spurs made a surprise move to land his signature. Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has been seeking support for his talisman Harry Kane, making Llorente a viable option.
Llorente graduated from Athletic Bilbao’s academy and went on to score 111 goals in 327 games at the club before joining Serie A champions Juventus back in 2013. He managed to score 27 times in 92 appearances for the Italian giants, and was a key part of two Serie A and one Italian Cup winning sides at Turin.
The 32-year-old also won the 2016 Europa League with Sevilla, following which, he joined Swansea. Last season, the player scored 15 goals in 33 Premier League appearances. Llorente is richly experienced and has proven his Premier League quality after playing for the Swans, making him an ideal addition.
A move to join Spurs seems like the better option for Llorente when compared to Chelsea. Joining the Blues would have only allowed him to play second fiddle to Alvaro Morata, while also possibly being behind Michy Batshuayi in the pecking order.
At 32, the Spaniard will be looking to clock as much playing minutes as he can – especially after being deployed in a crucial role for the Welsh club. At Tottenham, Harry Kane will lead the line for Pochettino like always, and Llorente will only be a backup at Wembley as well.
But the North London club are in need of a more reliable back-up forward who can provide support to Kane and also fill in for him to ease him of some pressure. Vincent Janssen has struggled to adapt to English football, and has been a let down for Spurs in many of their important matches.
After coming close to winning the Premier League for two seasons in a row, Pochettino will be determined to ensure that this time they fight hard to actually win the trophy. To do so, he needed to add more depth to his attack, thus making Llorente a quality signing.
