Fernando Llorente focused on Athletic Bilbao
Fernando Llorente is ignoring all notions of making a transfer to another club, and has all of his attentions focused on Athletic Bilbao.
The attacker’s stock rose throughout Europe after he netted three important goals for his Spain in UEFA 2012 European Football Championship qualifying wins over Lithuania and Scotland.
Llorente is determined to keep his feet on the ground, and is focusing on continuing to perform well for Bilbao.
“I'm only thinking about Athletic — I don't have my mind on anything more. I try to be calm. I know how this works. What goes up, can come down. Football changes every week, now things are going well and I have to take this opportunity to extend my streak.
There are days when things so perfectly, but I know that this will not always be so. In football, there are always ups and downs.”
Linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona
His international form has seen him being linked with some of the continent’s biggest clubs, with speculation arising that he may be snapped up by Real Madrid, whose manager, Jose Mourinho, admitted over the summer that he was hoping to bring in another
striker.
Barcelona has also revealed their interest in securing the talents of the 25-year-old, but the forward revealed that the release clause stipulated in his contract meant that it was unlikely many clubs could afford his transfer fee.
“I am under contract for three more years with Athletic Bilbao, and unless the president wants to sell, I do not think anyone would pay my release clause of 36 million Euros. I feel well in Bilbao and only think about scoring further goals here.”
Llorente striker netted 23 goals across all competitions last season, and now that he has taken his international tally to seven goals in 12 games for his country, there is no indication that the transfer talk will go away soon.
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