Matt Le Tissier rates Tottenham’s Fernando Llorente deal out of 10

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Tottenham Hotspur signed Fernando Llorente from their Premier League rivals in the summer, and it has not been an easy start for the Spaniard.

Matt Le Tissier has told Sky Sports that, with half the season gone, he would rate Tottenham’s summer acquisition of Fernando Llorente at 4/10, but suggested that he is still an upgrade on Vincent Janssen.

Janssen endured an extremely difficult first season with Spurs so it was no surprise that Mauricio Pochettino wanted to bring a new striker in during the summer.

That forward proved to be Llorente, with the Guardian reporting at the time that Tottenham paid £14 million for the Spaniard who had scored 15 times in his first season in the Premier League.

It has not been an easy start to life with Spurs however, with Llorente scoring just once in the top flight – with that goal coming when he was offside against his former club – and adding a further goal in the Champions League win over APOEL back in December.

And Le Tissier has suggested that it is somewhat understandable as to why he has not hit the ground running given who he is rivalling for a place in the team, but still was unable to give him particularly high marks.

“I don’t think he’s been a raging success but I think he was always going to be a fill-in for Harry Kane when he needed a rest and is a slight upgrade on Vincent Janssen,” he told Sky Sports, while explaining why he would rate the deal at 4/10.

In fairness to Llorente, his minutes per goal ratio is not terrible by any means considering that he is often having to come on in the latter stages of games when Pochettino wants to give Kane a break.

Spurs fans will be hoping it does not need to happen as it would presumably mean an injury to Kane, but it may not be out of the question to suggest that a prolonged run in the side may be what Llorente would need to start showing the form that convinced Spurs to pay £14 million in the summer.