Arsenal transfer target Llorente WILL be leaving Bilbao
Fernando Llorente told his bosses at Athletic Bilbao that he would not be signing a new contract in the summer, which immediately put a number of clubs, including Arsenal, on alert. With his contract due to end in less than a year, the Spanish international striker thought the club would listen to offers for him but they refused point blank, while selling his team mate Javi Martinez to Bayern Munich.
There were accusations between the club and the player about false stories being planted in the press, and Llorente became a target of abuse from his own fans. The situation was even stranger because despite refusing to sell the striker, the manager refused to play him, and the two ended up having a bust up during training.
Llorente started his first league game of the season, and spoke to the press about his determination to do well for the club, but this is not, as some people think, a turnaround in the situation. Llorente was picked because the normal front man was suspended and the manager had little choice. The club had accused him earlier in the week of refusing to do a press conference, when Llorente was already attending a pre-arranged TV interview. The 27-year old has spent his whole career at Bilbao, however, and still wants them to do well.
“I do not care what might happen, I do not think beyond that. The only future I think about now is giving everything for the Athletic.
“At the time (last season) I was playing a lot of games, I was happy. Confidence and trust makes the most of you.
“Currently, the fact that I am not playing continually means I am perhaps lacking the confidence to put some goals away.
“I have to forget what has happened and I just have to keep working.”
Even though Llorente says he wants to help his club by scoring goals he says `when` not `if` he leaves. If the club digs it’s heels in again in January then he will leave for free in the summer. It would be better for him if he plays, but if not then at least he won’t get injured.
“Hopefully I can get a few goals by the end, the more the merrier, and leave the team as high in the table as possible.”
I would prefer Doumbia or even Cavani (I dont think that will happen). I would like a 442, or 4312 formation. Having a fast and tall striker would be good upfront. We need a right mid also…
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As much as I would love him to come I don’t see this happening . Wenger wouldn’t add another heavily dependent left footed striker, cavani / huntelaar more likely
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We dont need llorente, he is so similar to giroud… We need a faster, more agile striker such as cavani but lets go for more logical options such as Huntelaar
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I hope Arsenal get him, i prefer him to Huntelaar since Llorente is younger than Huntelaar, so he could make 3 seasons at his top level with us.
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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i doubt we will sign him his wage demands are around 100k per week will arsenal pay that much 4 him huntelaar looks likely option
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llorente would be good signing scored 29 goals last season
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The group of supporters broke into the stadium and plastered Dortmund’s club logo on the walls of the Allianz Arena VIP lounge
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bvb fans are amazing
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walcott & sagna could be leaving by the way goal.com half the time reports crap nasri was on arsenal’s last season calender he left before it even hit the stands
FA Youth Cup: Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
fantstic future looking good
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i have a better sugestin get huntelaar in jan & sign llorente in summer 4 free & switch to 3-5-2 next season this way we can rotate our players & play with 2 strikers
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but leo.. llorente is playing sooo badly in la liga.. he isnt even in bilbao’s first team.. we need a striker who is on form right now.. signing llorente even in the summer is just a waste
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@salman dude he is not even among the substitues because he hasn’t signed a contract he played earlier this season for 10 mins & scored a goal would be a good additon + bilbao are similar to us with their playing style but i think wenger will sign huntelaar & maybe lewandowski in summer
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@ leo i think wenger will sign absolutely nobody until he sells our next 2 best players walcott and sagna
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@leo
if a player doesnt sign a contract, thats no excuse to leave him out of the first team.. walcott plays in our first team but has he signed the contract?
but have you seen the amount of chances llorente has missed? when he came on against real madrid, he was pathetic.. bilbao lie in 14th place right now i think.. and llorente has scored 1 goal in 15 games.. this is the back up we want for giroud.. id rather keep chamakh
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we don’t need another hitman
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@Ohtobebeagooner
Clearly you haven’t seen Llorente. He’s right footed.
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I like Wilfried Zaha. He has this South American flair about him. Better than any of the other upcoming youth players at Arsenal in my honest opinion
Opinions divided. What do you think?
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leo- stop typing every thought in your brain
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Arsenal needs to sign new fans…..
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Wenger is a fool. He won’t sign Llorente
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I just cant see why everyone wants Huntelaar? He is another tall striker who will want to play closer to the middle. Arsenal need a speedy skilful winger out on the left who runs at opponents and beats them, goes to the by line and then crosses. They need the same on the right.
Currently Podolski is wide left but he cuts inside too much and plays too deep. Gervinho is the best option out there, when his head is in it??? On the right the same is needed. As it stands that could be TW? Or AOC, from what I have seen AOC has potential but I am not sure he is developing enough? Last season he showed a willingness to do just that, this season to me he does not seem to be doing that, could be injury but who knows? How hard is he working to get faster?
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Arsenal also need attacking midfielders who run at the penalty area as soon as they pick it up about half way inside the opponents half. They do not have enough of that. Wilshire might be able to do just that as long as Wenger doesn’t pull him deep and fill his head with nonsense about being a ‘playmaker’ in the center circle telling everyone else to get forward and do what he should be doing himself??
The only time the ‘playmaker’ role works is when you have someone like Vierra who was physically aggressive and able to ‘win’ possession in there
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Diaby is the new Viera….but hes too injury prone…but no worries RVP took 8 years to stay injury free…and there are heaps of Diaby and Viera in France…….
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Too slow! We already have Giroud. Arsenal need pace and a pick-pocket striker. Someone like Aguero or Tevez. We need balance. Llorente would change our game completely and it wont be long before we start playing like Stoke with 100 crosses into the box to find basketball players. It’s great we are crossing more into the box, but that’s only so becasue of Giroud. Now if we had the Spaniard in there too, we wouldn’t be exploring the options of our typical short passing and possession game. Arsenal will then become too prediatable. In fact, I already think we are. Why make it worse?
Scoring 20-30 goals in Spain doesn’t mean he’ll do the same thing in England. The Spaniards are a lot shorter on average height, their defenders are not as committed as the English, nor are they as aggressive. I really think of the word RISK when I see Llorente’s name.
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Give it about a month or 2, then fans will forget Huntelaar. The same thing happened with Gotze. We’ll end up getting someone that is not a big name but probably would do better than the player all these silly fans are screaming for. Cazorla is a name but he is so much preferred over Gotze. Aren’t we glad we didn’t get the German? Now think real hard about Huntelaar’s wages, age and resell value. More a desperate move to appease the fans temporarily than really buying a player that will provide longevity and more future value. Then again, fans can believe what the want, they did with Gotze, but now the same fans are cheering Santi’s name. See how quickly football changes people? Enough said!
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Gotze is the new Eifeld!!! if Eifeld hadnt gotten injured he would be playing regularly for Dortmund…..and Gotze might not have a chance
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Must say that id much prefer Cavani who looks an all round handfull being deadly in on goal, just hope that we make the extra stretch to sign him now that the Emirates are paying monies upfront, and with the Italian leagues defending being notoriously stubborn i think its safe to say the lad will produce scores of goals
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Huntelaar! Proven, Cheaper and killer instinct.
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Huntelear was a flop at Milan
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i really dont understand why we are not looking for matias saurez.
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Huntelaar better option. Also look at getting a few of this lot :
Holtby, Tello, Cissoko, Capoue, Wanyama,Zaha,Cavanni, Baines, Yanga Mbiwa, Butland, Cesar.
We don’t need them all but the debate rages on about what positions need strengthening.
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@hafiz rahman
and he flopped even harder at Madrid!!!
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@S.H.
so i guess santi has heaps of resell value being 2 years younger and all, rite?
i agree that a Chronic flop, injury prone, one dimesional striker like (huntelaar) is not what we need now but i’m sick and tired of people like u calling fans plastic for trying to find a solution to our problems. Whilst u guys give arsene wenger head and ignore his failures some of us who like ARSENAL F.C. not ARSENE-AL F.C. want success that our club so ritely deserve. Despite his excessive wages and his dominance over our club he hasn’t achieved half of what fergie has in the last 8 years, yet his on HIGHER wages and has a swarm of gooners brainwashed such as urself for believing a CL finish is all we deserve.
and u just contradicted urself by claiming santi has better re-sale value than huntelaar and then slating people that wanted goezte. don’t think u can chuck in big words in paragraph and finish with “enough said” and then people are gonna agree with what ur saying!!!
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matias suarez just like kevin Mirallas r exactly what are exactly what arsenal needs/needed
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For summer transfers arsenal must sign falcao if there is thirsty of top finishing.
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i hope arsenal to get him,he is the best player his performance also good
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In my opinion, short term fixes are sometimes necessary. And Huntelaar could be just that. So all these arguments about resale value and age are just useless. Why in the world then did Manure buy RVP for 24 million pounds? The last time we wanted a short term fix, we got a peanut brain in the form of Andre Santos and a senile Sebastian Squillacci. And till today, we stand to regret it. Can Huntelaar be that bad? Not by a long damn sight.
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We don’t need llorente we need Huntelaar.
Huntelar is better and more clinical.
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@Craig Taylor – Jesus Nevas would be truely epic as a RM.
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we need a holding midfielder instead. like mvilla and tiote.gooner 4 life
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