Following the exit of Andy Carroll from West Ham United, the club have lost their other dimension, their plan B.
Of course, a replacement is needed and the perfect man for the job comes in the form of an unpopular choice – Fernando Llorente of Tottenham Hotspur.
As it stands, the 6 ft 4 34-year-old ace will be departing north London at the end of his current contract, which runs out at the end of this month.
And in the last couple of weeks, reliable Hammers insider source ExWHUemployee has revealed that the club are monitoring the centre-forward’s situation and see him a possible option.
As covered on the podcast previously Fernando Llorente’s situation is being monitored. As a possible forward option.
— ExWHUemployee (@ExWHUemployee) 18 June 2019
A quick look at the replies to the Tweet in which Ex made the claim will tell you that members of the Claret & Blue Army aren’t too keen on the Spaniard, to say the least.
However, there can be no denying both the player’s similarities to Carroll and the need for another option under Pellegrini.
In fact, they’re exactly the same height, meaning Llorente is just as well-equipped as the former England man to complete his job of winning headers, holding the ball up for more agile teammates and even adding the odd goal or two.
The 24-cap, seven-goal Spanish international has actually proved over the course of his career that he’s better at the latter, with 173 career goals to the 79 of his English counterpart.
Llorente may be four years older at 34, though his Champions League form with Spurs during 2018/2019 proves he’s still up to the task – in contrast to the recent on-field and off-field troubles of Carroll.
It’s a myth that the ex-Juventus striker wouldn’t be an improvement and upgrade on the former Liverpool man and for free, West Ham would be laughing.
But moving forward, is Llorente really a Pellegrini player? The answer is no, but that something different is always needed.
If a more stylish attacking formation, including the likes of Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals, Felipe Anderson, Marko Arnautovic and Michail Antonio, isn’t working and time is running out in a key match, Llorente could come off the bench to put pressure on the opposing defence.
Anderson and Antonio could be pushed out wider and tasked with, along with the whole team, pumping balls into the box and onto the head of Llorente to either knock on or have a pop at goal from himself.
Without a figure like this in the squad, the East Londoners would be in danger of becoming too one dimensional and it wouldn’t be long before other sides started to work them out.
