Contrary to reports, Manchester United have no interest in Fernando Llorente

Lost in the shuffle among all the Coutinho this and Dybala that was this little tidbit from yesterday: apparently Fernando Llorente, ostensibly released by Tottenham Hotspur after his two year contract expired in June, emerged as a last minute target for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Manchester United.

Only one problem: it’s not real. The Manchester Evening News, one of the most solid sources for United news, has come out and said that United have no interest in Llorente. Solskjaer already released Marouane Fellaini, who they considered to be a better target man than Llorente, and so it makes little sense to sign a 34 year old Basque striker for that role, even if he is gorgeous.

As far as I can tell, Llorente’s options are few. There’s been some interest from Italy for him, but there’s also a chance he could re-sign with Spurs on a short term contract with much reduced wages if he can’t sort out his future elsewhere. Spurs haven’t announced that they have released him like they often do with first team players, though they did include him on the retained/released list submitted to the Premier League.