Confusion Over Fernando Llorente's Future as Striker Appears on Tottenham's Released List

Despite being named on Tottenham's released list last Friday, Fernando Llorente has not left the club and still has three weeks remaining on his current contract. 

Spurs submitted a retained and released list to the Premier League, and when Llorente appeared on the latter most people assumed he had left the club.

However, Football London have reported that this is not necessarily the case. Whereas the other names on the released list - which included Michel Worm and a number of academy players - were granted official farewells on the cub website, Llorente was conspicuously absent. 

This is due to a combination of the striker's contract situation and the process of submitting the released and retained lists. 

All Premier League  clubs were required to present their lists by June 7, with any players who had been offered new contracts being automatically placed upon the retained list, and those who were out of contract and had not been offered new deals being placed on the released list. 

This is where the confusions lies, as although Spurs did not offer Llorente a new contract, the Spaniard's current deal is not set to expire until June 30. 

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Whilst no deal has yet been offered, there is nothing preventing the club and player coming to an arrangement in the following three weeks - even though he has been placed on the released list. 

The Spanish world cup winner has struggled for game time since arriving from Swansea in 2017, and if he were to remain with Tottenham it would undoubtedly be to continue as a backup to Harry Kane, Lucas Moura, and Son Heung-Min. 

However, despite his limited opportunities the striker has still managed to score some important goals for his team, most notably the effort against Manchester City in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, which helped propel Spurs into the all-English final against Liverpool.