Fernando Llorente (41), the 'lion king' who once played up front with Son Heung-min (34, LAFC) at Tottenham, issued a sobering warning to his former club.
In an interview on the 16th (Korean time) with Swedish betting company Harper, Llorente said about Tottenham, which has recently fallen to 18th in the Premier League and entered the relegation zone, "I hope they do not get relegated. This season really hasn't worked out, and it cannot be explained."
A team that once tasted continental success is now facing the reality of worrying about survival less than a year later. Even Llorente found the shock hard to accept.
What is more startling is the scale of the decline. Tottenham ended a long trophy drought last season by winning the UEFA Europa League.
The mood seemed to change. They returned to the Champions League stage. The season also started reasonably well. But as time passed, the team began to wobble significantly.
Chaos continued to the extent that three managers—Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and Roberto De Zerbi—were appointed, and this year they fell into a dire run without a single win.
The decisive blow was De Zerbi's debut. In the Sunderland game, which should have been a turning point, Tottenham collapsed helplessly 0-1.
The expected change never came; instead the whole team appeared to sink deeper into the mire. Only six matches remain. If they fail to reverse course, relegation will no longer be a dramatic phrase but reality.
Llorente knows the structure of Tottenham better than most. He joined Tottenham in the summer of 2017 after leaving Swansea City. He served as Harry Kane's backup striker, but his presence was clear.
He especially complemented the attack when Kane was absent, linking up with Son Heung-min to fill the team's attacking puzzle. That is why he is familiar to Korean fans. Seeing Tottenham now, his reaction was more than surprise; it was almost astonishment.
Llorente revealed, "After winning the Europa League, I was also at San Mamés that day. This season they even reached the Champions League and the start was really good. That's why it's even harder to believe."
Until very recently the team seemed to symbolize ascent, but now it has become a prime example of decline. The momentum of winning, the prestige of being a big club, and the star players' names offered no shield.
But Llorente's view did not stop at sentiment. He was blunt. "The level of the Premier League is extremely high. The competition is incredibly fierce. If you don't perform properly, things like this can happen," he said.
In other words, Tottenham is not exempt. The era of surviving on reputation alone is over, and teams that do not fight will ultimately fall.
Llorente gave a direct example. "Even Atlético Madrid, when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was there, was relegated to the second division. You might ask how that could happen, but football has things that are hard to explain," he said.
In fact, Atlético suffered a shocking relegation in the 1999-2000 season by finishing 19th in La Liga. The presence of stars, history and tradition, or a huge fandom could not prevent relegation.
Llorente's message to Tottenham was exactly this: the moment you say 'surely not,' it may already be too late.
Ultimately the core is the team. Llorente warned, "Even with excellent players, if the team does not unite and fight together, Tottenham may not be able to escape the quagmire it now faces."
This is also Tottenham's biggest problem now. Managers and tactics have changed and faces are different, but what is felt on the pitch is not cohesion but anxiety. Some individuals are holding on, but the sense that the whole team is enduring together is faint.
Tottenham suffered a shocking relegation once in the 1976-77 season. Fortunately they were promoted the following season, and for the next 49 years they did not experience relegation.
But now that long record stands at risk of ending. There is no time to boast about the past. With six matches remaining, if they cannot change here, Tottenham will become the protagonist in the most brutal line, 'the fall of a big club'.
[OSEN]