NANDO’S HOT AND SPICY
Spurs stars delighted by deadline day Llorente capture
THE deadline-day message to Mauricio Pochettino said it all.
The Tottenham boss revealed: “Hugo Lloris was with the France national team and sent a text to me. It said, ‘Gaffer, is it true about Llorente?’ I said, ‘Yes, we sign Llorente.’ He said, ‘Wow, fantastic player.’ “That is the impact he has on the changing room. All the players respect him. Then they start to meet him and he is very warm and very friendly. Fantastic.” It’s a measure of Tottenham’s resurgence that they could beat champions Chelsea to the signing of Spanish international Fernando Llorente. The 32-year-old striker, scorer of 15 goals for Swansea last season, had been expected to choose Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, his former boss at Juventus. It was against Pochettino, however, that Llorente made his debut for Athletic Bilbao 12 years ago.
The Spurs boss, then an Espanyol player, said: “He remembers better than me because he said to me this week, ‘It was January 2005.’ He remembers it well but I told him the only thing I remembered was that he didn’t score.”
Now the Spaniard will provide cover for Harry Kane, a Plan B in tight matches, and a wealth of experience for the Spurs front line.
The team with the best defence in the Premier League last season, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Lloris (above), was already stronger after the arrivals of Serge Aurier from PSG and £42million Davinson Sanchez from Ajax. Now the most potent front line in England is even more formidable.
Pochettino, whose men go to Everton today, went on: “It is not for me to say why we are now getting players who would before have gone to Chelsea. The most important thing for me is that we got the player we wanted. It is fantastic that he decided to join us.
“He will bring to us experience – he won the World Cup with Spain. When you saw him in training from day one it was like a 16-year-old or 17-year-old training with the first team for the first time. That energy is fantastic and is a great example for everyone.
“He is a very good person and at Swansea last season he scored 15 goals. We really believe he can help us achieve the things we want to achieve.”
Llorente’s arrival has already squeezed Vincent Janssen out. The Dutchman, warned he faced a season in exile after he refused to go to another Premier League side last month, signed for Turkish side Fenerbahce on loan yesterday.