Phil Thompson suggests Fernando Llorente’s decision to join Tottenham was strange

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Phil Thompson has questioned Fernando Llorente’s decision to join Tottenham Hotspur during the summer transfer window.

Phil Thompson has suggested on Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (broadcast on 9th September 2017 from 12:00 pm) that he felt that Fernando Llorente’s decision to join Tottenham during the summer transfer window was a strange one, but added that Spurs will be delighted with the move.

Mauricio Pochettino was able to strengthen his attacking ranks on deadline day by bringing the Spaniard in from their Premier League rivals Swansea City after one year at the Liberty Stadium.

But Thompson has suggested that based on the fact that the 32-year-old was enjoying regular first-team football with the Swans after a couple of years of being a more peripheral figure for both Sevilla and Juventus before that, joining Spurs is an odd move given that he will not be at the very top of Pochettino’s pecking order.

“They’ve searched around for a player who’s going to be backup to Harry Kane, and they’ve looked and they’ve probably gone, ‘oh, we can’t really get anybody’,” he told Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports (broadcast on 9th September 2017 from 12:00 pm).

“When Llorente’s come along, they’ve thought, ‘wow, this fella’s actually keen to come along’. I don’t know why he’s not carried on playing [for Swansea].

“He could be here now for two years and just play fleetingly in this side, and I thought [the reason] he had gone to Swansea was to play regularly throughout the next couple of years. These players make strange decisions now but overall, Tottenham have got themselves a fantastic deal out of it.”

As Thompson suggested, Spurs can surely be delighted with the deal that they pulled off, having landed an experienced goalscorer who scored 15 times during his first Premier League season, with a side that languished near the bottom of the table.

And while he has struggled to understand Llorente’s decision, the forward himself would perhaps argue that playing for Tottenham will give him a better chance of battling for trophies. And with Spurs set to compete in four competitions again this term, he may believe that he will still get plenty of game-time for his new team.