The Tottenham fans in the Transfer Tavern have yet to see the best of summer acquisition Fernando Llorente.
The Lilywhites captured the Spanish striker on transfer deadline day for £12.1million, according to Sky Sports, from Swansea after his fifteen goals in his debut campaign in English football helped guide the Welsh-club to Premier League safety. That record convinced Mauricio Pochettino to pursue him as an alternative to Harry Kane up front.
But his opportunities have inevitably been limited with just three starts across all competitions and none of those coming in the league and he’s played just fifty-two Premier League minutes. The former Juventus man has been unable to score in any of those outings and his confidence would likely have taken a further hit when Son Heung-Min was preferred to him up front- in the absence of the injured Kane- in the 1-0 defeat at Man United on Saturday.
He did start his side’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid in the Champions League and ahead of the return fixture at Wembley on Wednesday, here are 3 things Llorente must do to break into Tottenham’s XI…
End his scoring drought
The 32-year-old has many attributes capable of affecting a game but ultimately whilst he’s not putting the ball in the back of the net, he is likely to be overlooked by his Argentinian manager.
Obviously, his lack of starting appearances have made the task more difficult and arguably if he received an extended run in the team he would replicate the goalscoring form he showed at Swansea and beyond.
However, he finds himself in a situation where he needs to be impactful whenever afforded the opportunity and therefore needs to grab his first goal by any means and as quick as possible in order to try break into the starting eleven.
Improve his all-round game
Llorente’s game isn’t based around pace and there are more ways to be effective. But with Kane demonstrating a wide array of talents that include finishing, dribbling and passing, the Spaniard needs to offer more as a lone striker in order to occupy a backline.
His physical prowess has the potential to unsettle defenders and he showed the benefit of his 6ft 4″ stature by scoring a number of headers last season and throughout his career.
He could enhance his game, though, by drifting away from the penalty area with greater regularity in order to drag his markers out of position and create space for players such as Dele Alli, who possess superb movement and can exploit gaps in an opponents’ rearguard.
Develop a relationship with Kane
Ultimately, irrespective of how Llorente performs he is unlikely to usurp a fully-fit Kane in the starting lineup because of the Englishman’s formidable goalscoring record, tactical understanding and the affiliation he has with the club as a home-grown talent.
Therefore, the former Atletic Bilbao hot-shot needs to develop a relationship with Kane in order for the two to combine cohesively as they did at Santiago Bernabeu a fortnight ago.
Llorente must use his strength and ability to retain possession to get Spurs up the pitch, whilst Kane operates in the areas behind the man leading the line and tries to carve out chances.
