It was expected that Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente would be joining Juventus in the January transfer window.
The striker has been the source of transfer speculation since last summer when he confirmed to Athletic that he would not be renewing his contract, and Juve were rumoured to have had a bid for the player turned down this past summer.
So all signs pointed to a move to Serie A. That is until Marca suddenly reported that Llorente had a change of heart and that he now wants to play in the Premier League.
As Marca puts it, Llorente believes that his style of play is more suited to the Premier League than Serie A, and that the Premier League have the money to meet his wage demands of around €5 million after-tax (£4m).
With the new TV contract coming in to play next season, Premier League clubs will be flush my money. So affording those wages will not be a issue to the top tier teams. The question is who would be willing to pay £4m for a 27 year-old striker?
Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and both Manchester clubs have all been linked with Llorente at some point. I am not sure he fits in Liverpool’s style of play, and it looks like Arsenal are more interested in taking Thierry Henry on loan that sighing Llorente.
Chelsea need a striker, but they appear to be much more interested in Falcao, while both City and United appear all set up-front.
That leaves AVB and Spurs. They have Adebayor and Defoe, but AVB does not seem to be a big fan of Adebayor, and Llorente would appear to be a good fit for Spurs and their style of football.
As for Juventus, they would be left at the alter once again. They told their fans all summer they would sign a top striker and ended up with Nicklas Bendtner. Now another top striker is spurning their advances.
