Pochettino reveals dressing room respect for new boy Fernando Llorente

Given Danny Rose’s desire for well-known recruits – “not players you have to Google”, as he memorably said this summer – Tottenham’s left-back would presumably approve of the signing of Fernando Llorente.

If so, he would not be the only one.

“Maybe I can reveal one small thing,” said Mauricio Pochettino. “Hugo Lloris was with the national team and sent a text to me: ‘Gaffer, it’s true about Llorente?’

“I said ‘yes, we sign Llorente’. He said ‘wow, fantastic player’.

“That is the impact that he (Llorente) has on the changing room, because all the players respect him – and then they start to meet him, how he is. He is very warm, very friendly.

“It was fantastic. It’s a big impact for our changing room.

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“He will bring to the team and the squad great experience – he won the World Cup with Spain. When you saw him in training from day one it was like a 16 or 17-year-old going to training with the first team for the first time.

“That is massive because that energy is fantastic and a very good example for everyone. He is a very good person and at Swansea last season he scored 15 goals. He can repeat the same with us. We really believe he can help us to achieve the things we want to achieve.

“The balance is most important. Not all experienced players can bring what Fernando can bring to the team. You are not great because you are 32 or 33. Sometimes you are 33 and struggle, but Fernando was a fantastic profile and when we had the possibility to sign him we moved very quickly.

“It’s about opportunity in the market. You have different profiles of player in your head – different names – and then you can [get them] or you cannot. You have to be flexible in your ideas. I said after Wembley I wanted a minimum of three signings and I was right.”

Pochettino has frequently stated that it is difficult, or even impossible, for Tottenham to compete for signings with their richer Premier League rivals. Yet, in the final hours of the transfer window, Spurs challenged Chelsea for the signature of Llorente – and won.

It had been largely assumed that the striker would end up at Stamford Bridge, being reunited with Antonio Conte – formerly his manager for a year at Juventus – yet.

Llorente opted for north London instead.

“It is not my job to talk about this situation – many people can speak better and more properly than me,” said Pochettino. “The most important thing for me is we got the player we wanted, and it was fantastic that he decided to join us.

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“Now we need to add his characteristics to the team. But it is not for me to analyse that situation or to say why we are now getting players who should be going to Chelsea.”

While Llorente has history with Conte, there is also a link with Pochettino – the forward faced his new manager when he made his debut for Athletic Bilbao against Espanyol.

“He remembers better than me, because he said to me yesterday ‘it was 16 January 2005,” said Pochettino.

“He remembers very well, and I said ‘there is only one thing that I remember – you didn’t score’. He said ‘yes it’s true, I didn’t score’.”