Fernando Llorente has revealed an 11th hour phone call from Mauricio Pochettino convinced him to snub Chelsea and join Tottenham.
The former Spain international joined Tottenham on deadline day of the summer transfer window after turning down the chance to reunite with Antonio Conte at Chelsea.
Conte’s interest in Llorente dates back to last season and it was thought the 32-year-old would leave Swansea to join the reigning Premier League champions over the summer.
However, Llorente instead headed to north London to join rivals Tottenham and Llorente has revealed Pochettino’s late intervention was the decisive factor in the transfer.
“The truth is that Chelsea have been after me for a long time but at the end you know how this works,” Llorente told Sky Sports. “At the very last minute Pochettino called me and convinced me [to join Tottenham].
‘The Tottenham project is very 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 Club against Espanyol] at San Mames. He was at the end of his career and I was at the start of mine.
“Later, he was the 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.”
Llorente enjoyed a fine maiden season in the Premier League with Swansea last term despite the fact the Welsh outfit spent most of the campaign battling relegation.
15 goals was enough to convince the big teams to knock on the door and now he hopes to make a significant contribution for Spurs after making his debut in the final three minutes of their 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Since the start of last season, no Premier League player has scored more headed goals than Llorente (7).
