Fernando Llorente replaced Harry Kane in Spurs’ defeat of Borussia Dortmund (Picture: Getty)

Tottenham’s summer signing Fernando Llorente has broken his silence after rejecting Chelsea on transfer deadline day.

Llorente scored 15 goals in 35 appearances in his one season at Swansea and Antonio Conte was keen to bring the 32-year-old centre-forward to Stamford Bridge ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.

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However, the Spanish World Cup winner decided to join Spurs after receiving a last-minute phone call from Mauricio Pochettino.

‘Chelsea have been after me for a long time,’ Llorente revealed after making his debut as a second-half substitute in Tottenham’s 3-1 defeat of Borussia Dortmund.


‘But at the very last minute Pochettino called me and convinced me to join.



‘The Tottenham project is impressive. They have done very well in the last few years and I think I fit very well with this project. I think I can help them a lot.’

Antonio Conte had been looking to sign Fernando Llorente for some time (Picture: Getty)

Hugo Lloris heaped praise on Llorente following the striker’s summer arrival and believes his new team-mate can act as a mentor for young members of Spurs’ squad.

‘Fernando is a great man. From the beginning, it’s like he’s been here for a while,’ the France goalkeeper said.

‘He’s very respectful and you can feel that he is here to be involved, to help the team reach something. There is a real project at Tottenham and if he signed for us it’s because he believes in it.

‘He’s going to bring a lot to a young team. He is a World Cup winner, a Euro 2012 winner, he’s got a lot of experience for Juventus and he had a great season with Swansea — he helped save them [from relegation].

‘The new players are going to bring a new edge to the squad and this is what we needed. It’s like a second wind.’

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