Chelsea plot shock swoop for Fernando Llorente as Antonio Conte eyes Swansea striker to cover Diego Costa

1/16
Simon Johnson6 January 2017

Chelsea are poised to make a shock move to buy Swansea striker Fernando Llorente this month.

Coach Antonio Conte wants to improve Chelsea's chances of winning the title by strengthening in defence, midfield and attack during the window.

While a centre half and midfielder are a priority, Conte is concerned about his lack of options in attack, especially if top scorer Diego Costa suffers an injury.

Chelsea bought Michy Batshuayi from Marseille for £33.1m in the summer, but the Belgium international has not started a single League game.

Blues target: Conte managed Llorente at Juventus 
AFP/Getty Images

Conte knows Llorente well having signed him for Juventus from Athletic Bilbao in 2013. He went on to score 18 goals in his first season with the Serie A giants before the former left to take charge of Italy.

Llorente, who joined Swansea from Sevilla in the summer, has scored six goals this term despite playing for a side struggling against relegation.

In Pictures | Tottenham vs Chelsea | 04/01/2017

1/28

With his height and ability to hold up the ball, the 31-year-old suits Chelsea's reliance on playing with just one forward up front.

Llorente is believed to be keen on a switch to Stamford Bridge, although Swansea coach Paul Clement has just replaced Bob Bradley in charge and won't be keen to let one of his better players go.

However, Llorente's potential arrival won't automatically lead to the departure of Batshuayi on loan.

Standard Sport revealed in October that Chelsea weren't prepared to let him leave despite interest from a number of clubs.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in