Llorente reveals Juve doubts

Juventus striker Fernando Llorente has revealed he doubted whether his move to the club had been the right decision during the close-season.

The former Athletic Bilbao man moved to the Serie A champions in July, having agreed a deal to sign in the January transfer window.

The Spain international has made a modest start to life in Turin, scoring four goals in all competitions, while he failed to score in his first five games for the club.

And he has admitted that early on in his Juventus career, he suffered doubts over whether the move had been right for him.

“What happens is the normal problems of acclimatization due to the change of country, friends, team and city are added to workloads that in my life I had never experienced,” he told La Gazzetta Dello Sport.

“I felt strong but my body was not used to working so much and at one point in the United States, I felt empty, completely drained. And if the body does not work, also the head starts to sweat. And I began to have doubts.

“Injuries to (Mirko) Vucinic and (Fabio) Quagliarella gave me an opportunity that I have tried to make the most of. I had access to games, minutes, and the more I played the better I I felt. I picked up the pace.”

Llorente also confirmed that coach Antonio Conte had played a big part in helping him to recover from his doubts, with the 28-year-old scoring twice in his last two games.

“(Conte told me) to have patience. Juve had also suffered (with Michel) Platini and (Zinedine) Zidane, that the Serie A is different, which takes time and effort to get used to,” he added.