The Fernando Llorente rumors have firmly moved from Italy over to England in the last couple days, and with this much smoke continuously emanating from South Wales and West London, something’s bound to happening, right?
Matt Law of the Telegraph is the latest to jump on the rumor-wagon, claiming that Llorente himself wants a reunion with Conte, but only if he’s made the clear backup to Diego Costa. The implication here then is that Batshuayi would definitely be going on loan, either to Swansea themselves or to West Ham, as has been rumored as well before.
Fernando Llorente keen on reunion with Antonio Conte at Chelsea / Ake recall done with 24 hours to spare #cfc https://t.co/nbc27153w0
— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) January 9, 2017
Meanwhile, everyone continues to simply assume that Swansea City are cool with letting Llorente go just six months after signing him, and while they may be open to this wage-saving option in anticipation of a likely relegation at the end of the season, surely they could use someone of Llorente’s ability to try and stay up instead.
And unlike many players who could be lining up moves later this month (see: Chelsea’s own Kenedy and Musonda), Llorente played in Swansea’s FA Cup match this weekend, coming on as substitute for the final half hour as they tried to avoid getting eliminated by Hull City. Since the Swans went on to lose 2-0 anyway, all that accomplished was to make the 31-year-old cup-tied for the competition the rest of the season and take away value from Chelsea’s possible acquisition of him.
But the rumors continue, so we can’t quite rule all this out, even though it really doesn’t seem like the best course of action. Batshuayi played well against Peterborough and Conte praised him afterwards for his efforts in the game and in adapting to his methods. Let’s not mess this up.