The Champions League final appearance last season has given Tottenham Hotspur a platform to attract top talent from all across Europe. However, they also need to add backups to their first team, to help them deal with the fixture list in England.
Darren Bent, former Tottenham Hotspur star, now has a piece of advice regarding the same for his former club, speaking to Football.London recently.
The 35-year-old believes Spurs should try and sign Spanish striker Fernando Llorente on a new deal. The former Juventus man is now a free agent and is yet to sign with a new club and Bent claims that offering him another year would be a masterstroke in the current transfer market.
“Llorente last season, he came in and scored important goals at important times. You need to think of yourself rather than going and shelling out £20-30m on an unknown.
“If they can get Llorente to stay there on reduced money, I’m all for it.
“If they can keep Llorente and bring him back, I think that’s a good bit of business,” he added.
Llorente And His Numbers
The 34-year old first moved to England with Swansea City, where he scored 15 goals in 28 league starts, but failed to keep the Swans in the top flight.
He was picked up on the cheap by Spurs in 2017 to act as a backup to star striker Harry Kane and did a decent job in the two seasons he was at the club.
Llorente made 66 appearances for the London club, where he registered 13 goals and six assists, including crucial goals in clutch games.
Tall and strong, Llorente is a natural finisher, who loves to play on the shoulder of the final defender. He is decent with his passing and can be mildly effective in build-up play but is a striker who feeds off of crosses and adds a different dimension to Spurs’ attack.
At 34, he may not be able to play regularly but does have enough promise in him to spend another season in the English top flight.
Should Pochettino Offer Him A New Deal?
Though Llorente’s numbers are not quite what Spurs need from their backup strikers, it is hard to see the club find a better option who will be happy to wait for his chances from the bench.
Mauricio Pochettino now has Harry Kane as his only striker in the squad and though the likes of Lucas Moura and Heung-Min Son have done well in that role, Llorente is a natural striker and completes the squad at Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
He is a free agent, has already spent a couple of seasons with the club so unless Spurs find a striker ready to move on the cheap, Bent’s advice to re-sign Llorente makes a lot of sense for his former club.