How Fernando Llorente Has Helped Juventus and Himself

Antonio Conte could have rushed this new signing, another Juventus forward. Instead he waited for Fernando Llorente to catch up. Conte was, after all, the man who wanted the Spaniard in the first place.

But Conte would not loosen the leash. He told beIN Sports (h/t goal.com) in October that he had asked Llorente to be patient, to assimilate, to learn the system and embrace his new surroundings. 

And now Llorente is paying him back.

The Spanish forward has scored 16 goals in all competitions, none of them penalties and half of them headers. He and Carlos Tevez have scored 32 goals in Serie A—already more than Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet managed in the 2005-06 season and close to the 40 goals scored between John Charles and Omar Sivori in 1957-58:

"

In Juve's history only Del Piero/Trezeguet in 2005/06 (29) & Charles Sivori (40) in 1957/58 scored more than Tevez/Llorente (26) via GdS

— David Amoyal (@DavidAmoyal) March 9, 2014"

It is not just the goals. Llorente uses his big frame and moves particularly well for such a tall player. There are times when he simply holds up the ball, playing patiently, slipping a pass through defenders. He isn’t afraid to do the little flicks, to backpedal and lay off the ball to an incoming teammate.

Against Livorno, Llorente received the ball in the box while he was holding off a defender. He needed just a single touch to nudge the ball away; then he took a step and launched the shot into the top corner. And at other times he picks up the garbage, the loose ball inside the box. He is clearheaded while the rest scramble.

His confidence only grew, but still: Everything was different. The workload was a lot heavier. Llorente had spent the last year on the sidelines at Athletic Bilbao after announcing his intention to leave. He was shackled, and now he was free. He changed countries and cities for the first time in years. He had to learn a new language. Juventus were a world away from the one he knew.

He was born in the province of La Rioja, in the northwest of Spain, in a village that did not have any playground equipment. It was football, and that’s it. He went on to play for the youth teams in the Basque country, with feeder teams for Athletic Bilbao.

Some said he was the new Ibrahimovic. Llorente was the tallest on his team as a kid. You can see him playing on cement, a giant among on children, running around all of them. He is like that now at 29 years old, standing 6’4’’ and scoring headers.

He played for seven years with the senior team from Bilbao, and he struggled with injuries during the first two. The fans eventually called him the Lion King. He scored 29 goals in all competitions during the 2011-12 season, already a top scorer.

That final season was torment. Llorente refused to sign a new contract with Bilbao, and so he only started four games in La Liga that year. Marcelo Bielsa wanted nothing to do with him: Llorente was sent away to train with the club's reserves, per the Huffington Post UK. Conte said it best (h/t Inside Spanish Football): Llorente was "practically a tourist. ... Fernando is a sensitive guy and suffered for it."

So it took time to adapt to Italy and Juventus. Llorente told La Gazzetta dello Sport in November (h/t FourFourTwo) that he had some doubts—especially during the pre-season.

"At one point in the United States, I felt empty, completely drained," Llorente told the newspaper. "And if the body does not work, also the head starts to sweat."

Llorente rarely played in any of the first five games of the season, but he slowly earned more playing time. “He's trying to get into our system,” Conte told reporters in August. “There ought to be respect and not just criticizing someone to create controversy.” Conte protected him, and slowly Llorente formed a relationship with Tevez: one tall and imposing, and the other small and tiring.

Llorente still goes a few games in succession without scoring, but he told Sky (h/t Football Italia) that he’s “having a great season.” He wouldn’t call it the best year of his life, but he did ask a valid question: "How is it possible that Tevez and I won’t play at the World Cup?"

At the start of the year he was asking questions about himself; now he is asking about Brazil. Remember that Juventus signed the player for absolutely nothing, but he is worth so much more.

Updated on 18 April at 12:38.