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Report: Juventus and Inter Milan fighting over player released by Tottenham

Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images
Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images
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It’s certainly shaping up to be an interesting couple of weeks for a pair of Tottenham Hotspur misfits.

After Sport claimed that Federico Fazio, the ill-fitting defender sold by Mauricio Pochettino for just £2.8 million, could be on his way to Barcelona, Fernando Llorente too appears to be on the radar of a continental giant.

With Martin Braithwaite starting to suggest that his signing was more than a cruel practical joke played on poor, relegated Leganes, it is Juventus, rather than the La Liga champions, scouring the market for an affordable centre-forward.

And who better than a man who has already been there and done it all in black and white?

Andrea Pirlo was a Juventus player the last time Fernando Llorente donned an iconic striped shirt. Now, Pirlo is pulling the strings from the dugout instead and, according to Calciomercato, wants a reunion with his old team-mate in January.

35-year-old Llorente has not played a single second of Serie A football for Napoli this season. and, with his contract expiring in July, Gennaro Gattuso’s side surely won’t stand in his way, even if the World Cup winner moves to strengthen a direct Scudetto rival.

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Calciomercato adds that Inter Milan is another potential destination with Antonio Conte a big fan of a striker he has been trying in vain to sign since his Chelsea days.

Llorente would be an experienced back-up and little more at Juventus or Inter.

But if Tottenham thought his top-level days were over when they released the veteran striker in 2019, Pirlo and Conte are obviously convinced there is life in this old dog yet.

Fernando Llorente of Tottenham Hotspur during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final first leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 30, 2019 in… (Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)