Fernando Llorente eyeing England move, says agent

When was the last time we had a really fun transfer rumour? Yeah, I know we've got the Victor Moses thing going on, and Cesar Azpilicueta too, but they're more functional than exciting. What do I have in my fridge? Oh, some milk! It's good, but not exciting, that I am in possession of milk. If I had, oh... say, Fernando Llorente in my fridge, however, I'd be thrilled. He's not dead in this metaphor, I guess.

Tomorrow [Wednesday] Llorente will speak to his destination. It is very, very possible he will decide to go to the Premier League. I don’t know the [choice of] club at the moment but there are two [interested] clubs. One is in London, and one is in Manchester.

-Carlos Arino Bajo, Llorente' agent. Source: Telegraph.

Llorente, as you may already know, is out of contract at the end of this season and has caused something of a brouhaha in the Athletic Bilbao ranks by saying that he'll not be signing another deal. Naturally, he'll be wanting to get as much money as he possibly can with his next contract -- he'll be 28 by the start of the 2013/14 season, and this will probably be his final big payday.

Which means that, if Chelsea wanted to start getting involved, they're a major candidate for his services. Oh, and they're in London. This is all a bit vague and Eden Hazardy, and I wouldn't expect Wednesday to arrive with any solid confirmation of where he'll end up (apart from 'not Athletic'), nor would I expect any actual movement on the transfer front to go through until at least January. But it's a situation worth keeping an eye on nonetheless.

Acquiring Llorente would represent a break from the current policy of spending big on youths, but if we can get him for a cut-price deal in January (or a free next summer), his high wages won't be that much of a problem. And we do need a striker...