It was a big surprise that Fernando Llorente did not join Chelsea in last summer's transfer window, having shown on multiple occasions his eagerness to transfer to the Blues. According to reports, Llorente had a sudden change of heart which is why he joined Tottenham instead.
Llorente was a valuable player for Swansea City before he decided to transfer to Chelsea. Reports say that his desire to reunite with Antonio Conte is the main reason that sparked his transfer interest, yet the rumours proved fruitless as he ended up in Tottenham instead.
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Conte was very much eager to get Llorente to play for him again as he wanted to use him as a substitute for Alvaro Morata. However, negotiations between the two former friends failed as Tottenham proved to be a more alluring team for the 32-year-old.
The main reason behind this is rooted in Chelsea's financial incapability to meet Swansea's demands, coupled with the persuasive skills of manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Dilemma in Llorente's head
Llorente, in one of his interviews, said that it was one of the most difficult decisions he made in his life because the decision was between pleasing a good friend and achieving even more fame.
The latter proved to be a better and obviously wiser choice for him, hence opting to join Spurs over Chelsea. Aside from that, the Spaniard also says that Conte had attempted to sign him to the team multiple times.
Yet because Chelsea failed to meet the high demands of Swansea, and Spurs were quicker to react when it comes to transfer deals, Tottenham's mission to acquire the elite player succeeded.
According to another report, Llorente revealed that he had a talk with Pochettino on August 30 of last year. He says that it was his first time to be interested in playing for Tottenham, and the process was described by the Spaniard to be very quick, making him realise that joining the London club was his best option.
Now, Llorente reveals how happy he is that he came up with the right decision. In his own words, Llorente describes Pochettino as a "great manager". He even called their campaign as "amazing", insisting that he is very satisfied with how things went.
Digging deeper into the surprising transfer
Llorente is known to prefer headed attempts and aerial duels, a type of gameplay favoured by Pochettino.
Based on the betting odds for the title, the best pick would be Manchester City with 4/9 odds. However, that does not mean that Spurs are left behind as they have strong 16/1 odds, and are only sitting next to Manchester United's 9/2 odds.
What can be seen on http://www.freebets.co.uk/ and other betting sites is that Chelsea are not too far behind as they have 25/1 odds and are next to Spurs, which may justify Llorente having a very hard time in choosing which team is better.
Based on the current performance of Diego Costa and Willian, they might soon overtake Tottenham in the games to come. Meanwhile, other favorites like Liverpool and Arsenal are lagging behind the aforementioned teams as they have 25/1 and 66/1 odds respectively.
