Why European teams should try and sign Juventus striker Fernando Llorente this summer
"We will not sell our best players, our top assets, unless the players themselves ask us to leave," Juventus director Giuseppe Marotta said earlier this week. The Italian’s words seemingly rule out potential exits of Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal, who have both been linked with moves away from the Old Lady. Last week Marotta even confirmed Juventus’ dealings in the transfer window were complete, though if a player wants out, the club will likely abide to their demands.
One player who may be hoping to secure a move away from the club is Fernando Llorente. The burly Spaniard moved to Turin two years ago, making 54 league starts in that time. However, there was often a sense that the 30-year-old was merely a stop gap for the Italian side. 23 league goals isn’t a poor return in that time, but he's never quite convinced for the Serie A champions, particularly last season under Max Allegri.
The Italian manager favoured a front pairing of Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata last term and while the former has departed for Boca Juniors, the arrivals of Paulo Dybala and Mario Mandzukic, coupled with the permanent return of Simone Zaza, have pushed Llorente further down the pecking order at the Juventus Stadium.
At the time of writing, Juventus have six strikers on their books, with young Kingsley Coleman making up the sextet. The 19-year-old is tipped to leave on loan to gain further playing time, but Llorente can rightly be deemed expendable for the club. The acquisition of Mandzukic effectively rendered the striker surplus to requirements, but it’s no wonder a number of teams have been linked with a move for Llorente.
The Spain international has the physical attributes to succeed for a team that deploys a lone striker system in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 formation. Despite departing Spain two years ago, only Cristiano Ronaldo (35) and Aritz Aduriz (29) have scored more headed goals in the last six La Liga seasons than Llorente (26).
This coming despite his lack of competitive action in his final campaign for Athletic, where he managed just 4 league starts after news emerged he had turned down the chance to extend his stay with Los Leones.
Meanwhile, in the last two Serie A seasons, Llorente has scored more headed goals (9) than any other player. He is a frontman who clearly maximises his towering height (6’5”). For any team that looks to put crosses into the box, the experienced frontman is clearly an ideal performer, accentuating his statistically calculated WhoScored strength of ‘headed attempts’. Despite their possession-based game, Tottenham have been credited with an interest in Llorente and are reportedly leading the race to secure his services.
It is not the first time Spurs have been linked with a move for the frontman and he certainly makes for a viable target for the north London side. It's no secret that Mauricio Pochettino is keen to offload Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado this summer and striking reinforcements would be a necessity in order to ease the burden on Harry Kane.
Though he would not be first choice, Llorente would have a better chance of breaking into the Spurs starting XI than at Juventus. With Kieran Trippier also signing from Burnley - the right-back played more accurate crosses (91) than any other player in Europe’s top 5 leagues last season - Llorente's power in the air would not go to waste either. With Spurs likely to miss out on Christian Benteke, the Juventus frontman would make for an ideal acquisition this summer, despite his age.
However, Spurs are not the only team credited with an interest in the frontman. Sevilla, Porto and Monaco have each been mooted with a potential swoop for Llorente, with the trio requiring a lead marksmen to cover the respective departures of Carlos Bacca, Jackson Martínez and Dimitar Berbatov, while Real Madrid were recently forced to deny rumours that Rafael Benitez had requested Los Blancos move for his compatriot.
Llorente’s reputation alone means he is often linked with a big money transfer across the continent and this summer it appears another move is a distinct possibility given Juventus’ striking options.
Should a team convince the Serie A champions to sell, though, they need to deploy a system which brings out the best in Llorente, which means a formation as the lone frontman. He has proven a capable striker when partnered in attack, but his qualities suggest he’s best suited when deployed on his own with runners to his side or behind him, either for him to layoff to teammates - a WhoScored style of play of his - or get on the end of crosses in the 18-yard box.
His two years in Turin seem destined to end this summer given the striking options available to Allegri for the Old Lady. A number of teams are expected to keep a watchful eye on Llorente’s situation over the coming weeks and he could make for quite the shrewd acquisition for a number of sides on the continent.