Crucial year for Spain’s Llorente

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Fernando Llorente used to be called El Rey León (Lion King in Spanish) in Bilbao. Once upon a time, for the fans of the Spanish club Athletic Bilbao, the tall striker with thick glowing golden-brown/blonde hair — resembling the mane of the Jungle King — was a true symbol of power and leadership. But that is past. In 2012, Llorente lost his place, both in the squad list and in the fans’ hearts. He still sported the mane-like hair, but the throne was taken away. The fans vilified him while the then-manager, Marcelo Bielsa, exerted his power to show who the true boss was. All after Llorente publicly stated his desire to leave Bilbao and refused to extend his contract with the club. For a full-season, Llorente was sidelined. And whenever he did come on to play, he was booed by the fans.
Finally during the winter break, Italian giants Juventus came to the striker’s rescue, agreeing a deal to take him to Turin at the end of the season, when his contract with Bilbao expires.
Llorente, who has since dropped down the pecking order in the national team, is now finally set to forget the past and kick the ball. First on his agenda, one presumes, would be to get back to what he does the best, scoring goals. He also has the small matter of getting back to national contention on his hands. Success is not assured in either of these tasks. At Juventus, Llorente will face competition from Carlos Tevez, Fabio Quagliarella and Mirko Vucinic.
The scenario in the national team is far more bleak. To be on the Spain First XI, Llorente has to convince Vicente del Bosque that he is a better option than Roberto Soldado, Alvaro Negredo, David Villa and the once-invincible Fernando Torres. Then of course, he also has to compete against strikeless/‘false-nine’ system sometimes adopted by del Bosque. What’s worse? With the World Cup coming next year, Llorente just has one season to achieve these targets. One season in a new country, with a new club and under a manager he has never worked with — Antonio Conte.