Charlie Nicholas has questioned Fernando Llorente’s role at Tottenham, suggesting that the club doesn’t suit his style of play and that he is likely to be axed.
The Spaniard has started Spurs’ last two matches in the absence of the injured Harry Kane, and endured a torrid afternoon against Fulham last weekend, scoring an own goal and missing a host of chances.
He did, however, score in the Carabao Cup defeat to Chelsea on Thursday night.
Nicholas has suggested that as soon as Heung-min Son is back from the Asian Cup, the South Korean will come in and replace Llorente.
Speaking on Soccer Saturday on Saturday afternoon, the former Arsenal man said: “He’s probably been really nervous about coming back and replacing Kane, and that’s the way he looked. Opportunities came and gone, and one was a banker for me.
“He got a goal and strikers are all about scoring goals. You throw him in, it’s a different style. Son will come back, and if he is fresh he’ll come straight back in the team.”
OPINION
It’s difficult to see a future for Llorente at Tottenham. The big Spaniard doesn’t suit Mauricio Pochettino’s style of play, and at 33, isn’t getting any younger. The issue Spurs would have, however, would be replacing him. No self-respecting striker is going to happily agree to join Spurs is that they can sot and watch Harry Kane get picked ahead of team every week, and so realistically, it’s going to be hard for the club to bring in anybody who could massively improve on the job that Llorente does. It’s an unusual and tricky situation, and one that is certainly not helped by Spurs’ unwillingness to go all out in the transfer window. At this stage, provided that Kane can keep his fitness when he comes back into the side, it might be a better idea, and one in keeping with the Tottenham way of doing things, to move Llorente on, and to give the nod to a younger academy talent like Kazaiah Sterling or Troy Parrot. Both have bags of potential, and they would be learning from the very best by deputising for the England captain.