Tottenham new-boy Fernando Llorente has revealed the influence Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino had in the striker’s decision to join the North-London outfit ahead of holding champions Chelsea at the climax of the Summer transfer window.
Having been heavily linked with a move to Chelsea in the days leading up to transfer deadline-day, it came as quite the shock when news broke out of Llorente’s imminent arrival at Tottenham Hotspur.
The 32 year old, who netted 15 goals for struggling Swansea last season, eventually signed for Tottenham for a reported fee of just £14 million, a bargain-buy by today’s standards, meaning Chelsea had lost out on yet another transfer target.
Now, the Spanish forward has explained his decision to choose a move to Tottenham over a move to Chelsea, describing the Tottenham ‘project’ as both ‘massive’ and ‘wonderful’.
“The truth is that Chelsea have been after me for a long time but at the end you know how this works,” The veteran striker was quoted as saying, as reported by SkySports. “At the very last minute Pochettino called me and convinced me.”
“The Tottenham project is impressive. They have done very well in the last few years and I think I fit very well with this project. I think I can help them a lot.”
“I’m very happy because at the end everything came out perfect. Tottenham are an amazing club with a wonderful project and I think I fit in very well.”
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“I want to put my contribution on it and hopefully I can score many goals to help the club to achieve their targets.”
The 32 year old also saved some praise for Pochettino, who the forward admitted to having a lot of respect for after their brief time together in Spain as rivals.
“Pochettino was someone very important, without doubt,” He added. “I knew him from when I was in Spain.”
“There, in what is a nice story, I made my debut against him at San Mames [Atheltic Bilbao]. He was at the end of his career and I was at the start of mine.”
“Later, he was manager of Espanyol and I was an Athletic player, and we competed against each other various other times.”
“Now I’m at his service for Spurs, and I really want to give him my best.”
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