Llorente was close to Juve before his ‘rebirth’ at Udinese

“That felt like a weight off my shoulders, but I don’t want to stop now and hope to help Udinese score against Genoa too,” the Spaniard told Tuttosport.

“I am here to bring my experience. Before signing, I talked to Francesco Guidolin, who was my coach at Swansea, and he assured me I would be very happy in Udine. He was right. Although it’s a smaller city, it does remind me of Turin, where I was very happy indeed.”

During his 18 months at

Napoli

,

Llorente

only made 29 appearances for the club. Still, he managed to score four goals.

“I felt like a caged lion over the last year. It’s tough to keep your mentality in the right place when you train for months and never step on the pitch. Sensing there’s no faith in you does hurt.

“Having said that, I don’t regret the move, as it was a good experience playing for Napoli. I do have to thank Udinese though for giving me the chance to feel like a real player again.”

Llorente

admits he would cherish the chance to play for

Juventus

again as he was close to make a return during the last January transfer window.

“There was a lot of talk, perhaps the Bianconeri directors thought differently, but in the end it didn’t go through,” confirms the 36-year-old.

“I would’ve liked a return to Juventus. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in history and I have fond memories of Andrea Pirlo. Above all, Juventus remains in my heart and I had the two best years of my career in Turin.”

“I often hear from ex-teammates and directors, they all speak highly of Pirlo, even though the results aren’t quite what they wanted.

“I can understand criticism over the Champions League exit, but it would be crazy to doubt Cristiano Ronaldo’s influence. With him on the pitch, you basically start from 1-0.”

Udinese

will face

Genoa

on Saturday as they’re trying to build on their victory over Sassuolo.

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