Seven years after Liverpool paid £35m for Andy Carroll, Spurs brought Llorente to North London after 15 Premier League goals for Swansea City.
At the time, Tottenham Hotspur looked to have pulled off a rather intelligent deal when they signed Fernando Llorente from Swansea City on the final day of the summer 2017 transfer window.
The 2010 World Cup winner had scored 15 goals in 28 starts for The Swans during the 2016/17 campaign and looked a snip at just £14 million. But, with the benefit of hindsight, maybe signing Llorente wasn’t the brainwave it first appeared.
On reflection, the Spanish striker never looked a natural fit for a Spurs team renowned for their speed on the break and their one-touch passing football under Mauricio Pochettino.
Llorente is an old-school target man, a player who thrived in a Swansea side who played to his strengths with booming balls into the box and typically pin-point Gylfi Sigurdsson set pieces.
Tottenham were never going to change their style of play to accommodate one man. And with Llorente struggling to adapt to an entirely different approach, he has slipped well down the pecking order and has played just 13 minutes of Premier League football this season.
Now, The Sun reports that Tottenham are hoping to cash in during the January transfer window, and will accept just £4 million.
And it is hard not to be reminded of Andy Carroll’s ill-fated move to Liverpool in January 2011.
Like Llorente, Carroll was a deadline-day panic buy, signed for £35 million from Newcastle, and never looked likely to fit into Liverpool’s style with his strength in the air and reliance upon crosses from out wide. He was sold to West Ham two years later at a £20 million, as reported by the BBC.
And while not quite as expensive, Tottenham’s decision to sign Llorente now feels like a very similar mistake.
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