According to Ciro Venerato of RAI (h/t Arena Napoli), Everton are interested in Fernando Llorente and may have to battle West Ham United to procure his signature. The 35-year-old is in the last year of his deal at Napoli and may be sold as club president Aurelio De Laurentiis needs money for new arrivals.
Carlo Ancelotti has a positive relationship with the Serie A side and recently signed Allan permanently, so they stand a good chance of bringing Llorente back to the Premier League if the Spanish international is keen.
What would Llorente bring to the squad?
He’s a brilliant and prolific target man who wins the majority of his aerial duels and brings others into the attack. At Napoli last season, Llorente won 28/49 headers, created 20 chances, had 33 shots with 33% hitting the target, won nine free-kicks and completed 81% of his passes.
scored 111 goals and 36 assists in 327 games for Athletic Bilbao (1996 – 2003) (2004 – 2013), 27 goals and 10 assists in 92 games for Juventus (2013 – 2015), seven goals and five assists in 36 games for Sevilla (2015 – 2016), 15 goals and one assist in 35 games for Swansea City (2016 – 2017), 13 goals and six assists in 66 games for Tottenham (2017 – 2019) and four goals and one assist in 24 games for Napoli (2019 – present).
How much will he set us back?
Llorente had been released by Tottenham when Napoli signed him last summer, but CIES Football Observatory believe he’s worth €1m-€2m (£0.9m-£1.8m) while Transfermarkt have valued him at £2.7m.
As per Silly Season, the 35-year-old earns €61k-per-week/€3.2m-a-year (£55.4k-per-week/£2.9m-a-year) at the Stadio San Paolo, so it may cost us around €5m (£4.5m) to Llorente for a season.
We aren’t short of options with Richarlison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Moise Kean in attack, so Llorente may be useful in a subsidiary role.
That being said, he may not present value for money. The centre-forward is coming off the back of a disappointing season at Napoli and will turn 36 in a matter of months.
It also remains to be seen whether he could cut it in the Premier League next season, as Tottenham didn’t rate him enough to keep him last summer.
In other news, Everton have been dealt a transfer blow in pursuit of Hirving Lozano