MADRID, 15 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Fernando Llorente confirmed this Monday his retirement from sports at the age of 38 and after a career where he played for clubs such as Athletic Club, Sevilla, Juventus and Tottenham and where he was part of the Spanish team that was proclaimed world champion in 2010 and of Europe in 2012.
Through a video entitled ‘Thank you for being part of my dream’, in which he reviews his career through the teams he was a part of, the player announced his goodbye to the fields after a year without playing after leaving the end of the 2021-2022 season for SD Eibar, the latest in his extensive and extensive curriculum.
Raised in the Lezama youth academy, it was at Athletic Club where he became known as a ‘9’ with a good shot, but also with technical quality. He made his debut with the ‘Leones’ in 2005 under the guidance of Ernesto Valverde and remained there until 2013, when he went to Serie A to play for Juventus and after a last year where he barely played due to his refusal to renew. In the Biscayan team he played 332 games, with 116 goals scored, and played two Copa del Rey finals (2009 and 2012) and one in the Europa League (2012).
During his tour of Italy, Llorente was part of the ‘Vecchia Signora’, with whom he won two ‘Scudetti’ (2014 and 2015), although he was also part of the 2015-2016 squad that was champion, despite the fact that that year He left on loan to Sevilla. With the ‘bianconero’ team, he also played in the 2015 Champions League final against FC Barcelona.
As a Sevilla player, he did not end up being a permanent starter, but he lifted another title, the 2016 Europa League, and then he tried his luck in English football, in the modest Swansea City, where he shone with 15 goals in 2016-2017, and in the Tottenham Hotspur, where he made 13 in two seasons and with whom he played another Champions League final, also lost in 2019 against Liverpool.
From England he returned to Italy to play, without excessive success, for Napoli and Udinese, and finally returned to help SD Eibar get promoted to LaLiga Santander in the 2021-2022 campaign and in which he scored the last two official goals of his career.
In addition, Fernando Llorente was also international with the Spanish team, with which he made his debut under the orders of Vicente del Bosque in November 2009 in a friendly against Chile, the first of his 27 games with the ‘Red’, with which he scored seven goals and with which he was proclaimed world champion in 2010, being key in his exit to the field in the round of 16 against Portugal, and Europe in 2012.