Remember Fernando Llorente? Once one of the most wanted strikers in the world now just a dejected figure in Turin. Fernando Llorente joined Juventus as a free agent after his contract expired with Athletic Bilbao in the Summer.
Llorente who bagged good number of goals for Athletic Bilbao for most of the seasons he played there. But last season, he bagged just 4 goals due to injuries, lack of game time and going out of favor at the club as he refused to sign a contract extension to force a move to Juventus.
Llorente’s struggle for game time still continues with Juventus as his manager prefers Vucinic and Tevez ahead of the Spanish forward in the starting lineup. It is believed that if Llorente did not improve his form in the pitch, he may be sold in the next transfer window.
Even with his poor form, there are lots of top clubs who will be interested in the striker if he was put up on the transfer list. Now, the latest rumors claim that Arsenal are very much interested in bringing Llorente to Emirates and they are ready to spend up to £30M for the fox-in-the-box type striker. Other top clubs like Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Manchester City are also monitoring the striker’s situation at Juventus.
But Juventus director general Beppe Marotta flushed aside all these rumors and said that they have no intention of selling Llorente now.
Marotta said,
“When we sign a player and hand him a four-year contract, we’re evidently not looking for immediate results in the space of one or two months.
“We believe in him and it is too early to judge.”
Scouting Llorente (video),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7z6ThxbOwM