Fernando Llorente says he joined Tottenham over Chelsea after a last-minute call from Mauricio Pochettino on Deadline Day.
The Spanish striker had been a reported target for Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte after the pair worked together at Juventus, but joined Tottenham after Pochettino convinced him of the club’s ambition.
Llorente made his first appearance for Tottenham on Wednesday night after coming on as an 87th-minute substitute in the 3-1 win over Dortmund.
“The truth is that Chelsea have been after me for a long time but at the end you know how this works. At the very last minute Pochettino called me and convinced me [to join Tottenham],” said the 32-year-old.
“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.
“I’m very happy because at the end everything came out perfect. Tottenham are an amazing club with a wonderful project and I think I fit in very well. I want to put my contribution on it and hopefully I can score many goals to help the club to achieve their targets.
“Pochettino was someone very important, without doubt. I knew him from when I was in Spain. There, in what is a nice story, I made my debut against him [for Athletic Bilbao against Espanyol] at San Mames. He was at the end of his career and I was at the start of mine.
“Later, he was manager of Espanyol and I was an Athletic player, and we competed against each other various other times. Now I’m at his service for Spurs, and I really want to give him my best.”
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Source: Sky Sports