Fernando Llorente

Football player infobox
playername = Fernando Llorente
fullname = Fernando Llorente Torres


height = height|m=1.95
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1985|2|26
cityofbirth = Pamplona, Navarre
countryofbirth = Spain
currentclub = Athletic Bilbao
clubnumber = 9
position = Centre forward
youthyears = 1995-1996
1997-2003
youthclubs = FC Funes
Athletic Bilbao
years = 2003–2004
2004–2005
2005–
clubs = CD Baskonia
Bilbao Athletic
Athletic Bilbao
caps(goals) = 33 (12)
16 (4)
95 (17)
nationalyears = 2005
nationalteam = Spain U-21
nationalcaps(goals) = 5 (5)
pcupdate = August 1, 2008
ntupdate =

Fernando Llorente Torres (born February 26, 1985 in Pamplona, Navarre), is a Spanish footballer, who currently plays for Athletic Bilbao in "La Liga" as a centre forward.

Club career

Llorente first joined the Athletic Bilbao setup in the 1996-97 season, at the age of 11. He spent his first many seasons in the various junior levels of the club, before being promoted to CD Baskonia of the "Tercera División", effectively the Athletic third/U20 team, in 2003-04. There, he scored 12 goals in 33 appearances, paving way for his promotion to Bilbao Athletic, Athletic's reserve team, then in "Segunda División B".

Having featured in 16 games with 4 goals for the B-team in the first half of season, on January 16, 2005, 6 weeks before turning 20, Llorente got his first-team "La Liga" debut, in a 1-1 home draw with RCD Espanyol. Three days later, in a Spanish Cup match against UD Lanzarote, he scored a hat-trick, prompting great expectations for his future with Athletic. He would go on to feature in all but five of the 19 remaining league games and score 3 goals, while also featuring in four Cup matches and a UEFA Cup game against Austria Vienna.

His strong performance in the U20 World Cup at the end of the season, including a 4-goal match against Chile, added to the expectations of a budding future.

In 2005-06, he scored in the opening day Basque derby 3-0 win against Real Sociedad, but eventually fell into a netting slump, being was dropped for several games as Athletic battled in the bottom half of the table for the entire year, eventually finishing 12th. He did however score twice in a Cup game against CE L´Hospitalet in November, which helped keep him in the first team. A day before the first anniversary of his Athletic debut, he picked up another goal in a loss to FC Barcelona, but then hit another goalscoring drought, that lasted the rest of the season.

Llorente started the 2006-07 season as the fourth-choice striker, behind Aritz Aduriz, Joseba Etxeberría and the veteran Ismael Urzaiz, but the team's poor form and a lack of production from all four forced then-coach Félix Sarriugarte into rotating the players. He scored twice in 23 matches, including one in the dying minutes of a 1-1 away draw with Valencia, after he had been brought on from the bench in the 80th minute.

In 2007-08, Llorente became Athletic's undisputed first-choice forward, and netted 10 league goals for a side that finished in mid-table.

Awards

*Silver boot in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship

External links

* [http://www.lfp.es/historico/primera/plantillas/historial.asp?jug=7482 Stats at Liga de Fútbol Profesional] es icon
* [http://www.athletic-club.net/acc/home.asp?a=1&b=250&equipo=1&jug=571&idi=2 Athletic Bilbao profile]