When the rumours of Llorente’s possible transfer to Real Madrid first came out, there was an understandable feeling of disappointment among Madridistas: while his season saw success in terms of silverware, coming close to winning the treble with Juve, on a personal level he had a more lackluster campaign – Just 7 goals in the league, and losing his place to his younger compatriot Morata. While he has received a standing ovation from the Bernabéu crowd in the past, he seems to have fallen behind, the arrival of Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and Simone Zaza signalling that he is no longer a part of the Juve framework. Nevertheless, Rafa Benítez, who has wanted him in the past while at Liverpool, has reportedly asked Florentino Pérez to spend on the striker.

So why him? Real Madrid were always going to go after a striker after sending Javier Hernández back to Manchester, which once again left Karim Benzema as their only recognised striker (although it’s being claimed that Benítez will play Ronaldo himself up front, or even Bale). However, the market for quality strikers is becoming increasingly barren, and Perez will be desperate as always to find new blood to make up for last season’s relative disappointment.

In many ways, Fernando Llorente is exactly the profile of striker Real Madrid should want. At moments during last season, they resorted to crossing the ball into the box hoping Ronaldo would meet it – not a bad tactic in itself given his ability in the air, but throw Llorente into the equation, a man with similarly deadly finishing from set pieces, and the tactic becomes much more potent.

Llorente also fits into the ‘good feet for a big man’ pigeonhole, with a decent technique and an ability to help build up attacks. These qualities will no doubt be essential should he move back to Spain: As number 9, one of Karim Benzema’s main functions in the Real Madrid set up over the last few seasons has been to facilitate the attacking build up for others – Ronaldo, Bale – to score (this relationship works both ways though), with 10 assists this season alone. In order to work as Benzema’s understudy (or replacement?), Llorente will have to replicate that type of play unless of course Benítez changes around the set up of the team, and we start seeing crosses into the box more frequently – in that case, he will function more as a target man. As a result, his acquisition would offer Real Madrid a great deal of flexibility in terms of tactics – something they will need when teams begin to park the bus, nullifying their counter attacking threat.

Nevertheless, it is hard to argue that Llorente’s time in Italy of late has been a roaring success, and people critical of his transfer will point to a mediocre scoring record and lack of productivity. Although since 2011-12, he has not a consistent campaign in terms of scoring, but could he experience a rejuvenation back in Spain, under a manager who seems genuinely keen on having him? Benítez seems to have a fight on his hands if he wants to land the striker though: Llorente, a clearly pragmatic option, does not exactly fit into Florentino Pérez’s Galacticos mould.