Tottenham Deadline Day: 5 biggest questions (and answers) for Spurs

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 05: Tottenham Hotspur Manager Mauricio Pochettino during the Pre-Season Friendly match between Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus on August 5, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 05: Tottenham Hotspur Manager Mauricio Pochettino during the Pre-Season Friendly match between Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus on August 5, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Stephen Pond/Getty Images) /
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4. Is the Llorente rumour real?

Late yesterday, rumours started to pop up all over England that Tottenham were prepared to rival Chelsea for the services of Fernando Llorente. To put it mildly, that’s a very strange rumour.

On the one hand, Llorente is a proven goal scorer that played really well in spurts for Swansea last season. He has his limitations, but he’d certainly be a significant upgrade over the aforementioned Vincent Janssen.

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At an absolute minimum, his ability to to dominate opponents in the air could be a huge boon to Pochettino’s attack. Remember, Spurs aren’t looking for a starting striker. Harry Kane has that role nailed down. The club only need a viable option to cover Kane from the bench. They could do a lot worse than Llorente in that role.

Conversely, paying £15 million for a slow centre forward on the wrong side of 30-years-old would be a very bizarre move for Levy to make. It goes against everything he deems important in a transfer. The chances of making a profit on him would be almost zero.

Ultimately, I believe the answer to this question is no. My rationale is that Llorente doesn’t seem like a good fit for Pochettino. He’s so painfully slow that he’d be incapable of participating in a high pressing system. That should be enough to steer him to Stamford Bridge.