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Pochettino seething over Llorente pursuit

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Mauricio Pochettino has been left “seething” by Tottenham’s failure to re-sign Feranndo Llorente, according to Football Insider. 

The 6’5″ colossus [Whoscored] left Spurs at the end of last season following the expiration of his contract in north London, but it is understood that the club have been trying to bring him back into Pochettino’s squad.

According to the report, it is believed that Spurs offered him a new one-year deal on reduced terms, but have been trumped by the offer of a two-year contract from Napoli.

Would re-signing Llorente have been a good idea?

He wasn’t always pretty, but when Llorente was effective last year, he was unplayable.

The Spaniard causes havoc like few others, and when he is on song, there is very little that most defenders can do to shut him down.

Last year, when he had to step into the breach for large sections of the season to replace the injured Harry Kane, the veteran hitman managed to register 4 aerial duels won per game in the Champions League, as per Whoscored, as well as 3.2 shots per 90 minutes in the Premier League.

His goal return wasn’t always the most illustrious, but with the likes of Lucas Moura and Son Heung-min buzzing in and around him, it didn’t necessarily need to be.

Now, however, with Llorente set to snub Spurs, Pochettino is left looking very thin up top.

With regards to out and out strikers, Kane is Poch’s only senior option, and while Son and Lucas can deputise if needed, having another traditional centre-forward onboard would have been a real bonus.

What now for Pochettino?

At the moment, everything is fine.

Nobody is leapfrogging Kane in the pecking order any time soon, and whoever he brought in up front was always going to be a glorified understudy.

One option he has is calling up young Troy Parrott to the senior side. The 17-year-old is highly-rated in north London, and hit two goals in 61 minutes for the U23s in his first game of the season against Manchester City.

The alternative is to bring in a new forward in January. This would be the best thing to do, but obviously whoever came in would have to be happy playing second fiddle to Kane.

That would no doubt complicate things, but as it stands, Pochettino has to do something, because his squad looks too lightweight for a sustained title challenge.

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