Fernando Llorente discusses his rebirth at Udinese after being ‘a caged lion’ at Napoli, confirms he was close to a Juventus comeback and says criticising Cristiano Ronaldo is ‘crazy.’
The striker scored his first goal for the Friulani in a 2-0 win over Sassuolo, having made the move in January.
“That felt like a weight off my shoulders, but I don’t want to stop now and hope to help Udinese score against Genoa too,” the Spaniard told Tuttosport.
Fernando Llorente discusses his rebirth at Udinese after being ‘a caged lion’ at Napoli, confirms he was close to a Juventus comeback and says criticising Cristiano Ronaldo is ‘crazy.’
The striker scored his first goal for the Friulani in a 2-0 win over Sassuolo, having made the move in January.
“That felt like a weight off my shoulders, but I don’t want to stop now and hope to help Udinese score against Genoa too,” the Spaniard told Tuttosport.
“I am here to bring my experience. Before signing, I talked to Francesco Guidolin, who was my coach at Swansea, and he assured me I would be very happy in Udine. He was right. Although it’s a smaller city, it does remind me of Turin, where I was very happy indeed.”
In his 18 months at Napoli, Llorente managed only 29 competitive appearances, still scoring four goals.
“I felt like a caged lion over the last year. It’s tough to keep your mentality in the right place when you train for months and never step on the pitch. Sensing there’s no faith in you does hurt.
“Having said that, I don’t regret the move, as it was a good experience playing for Napoli. I do have to thank Udinese though for giving me the chance to feel like a real player again.”
There had been strong reports of a January move back to Juventus, where he had already played from 2013-15, and Llorente admits it was on the cards.
“There was a lot of talk, perhaps the Bianconeri directors thought differently, but in the end it didn’t go through,” confirms the 36-year-old.
“I would’ve liked a return to Juventus. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in history and I have fond memories of Andrea Pirlo. Above all, Juventus remains in my heart and I had the two best years of my career in Turin.”
The Bianconeri could do with another forward to take some of the slack off Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata.
“I often hear from ex-teammates and directors, they all speak highly of Pirlo, even though the results aren’t quite what they wanted.
“I can understand criticism over the Champions League exit, but it would be crazy to doubt Cristiano Ronaldo’s influence. With him on the pitch, you basically start from 1-0.”