When the rumours of Llorente’s possible transfer to Real Madrid first came out, there was an understandable feeling of disappointment among Madridistas: while his season saw success in terms of silverware, coming close to winning the treble with Juve, on a personal level he had a more lackluster campaign – Just 7 goals in the league, and losing his place to his younger compatriot Morata. While he has received a standing ovation from the Bernabéu crowd in the past, he seems to have fallen behind, the arrival of Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic and Simone Zaza signalling that he is no longer a part of the Juve framework. Nevertheless, Rafa Benítez, who has wanted him in the past while at Liverpool, has reportedly asked Florentino Pérez to spend on the striker.

So why him? Real Madrid were always going to go after a striker after sending Javier Hernández back to Manchester…