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Athletic Bilbao are set to give up on signing Fernando Llorente this summer after Tottenham Hotspur’s run to the Champions League final, per Fichajes.

What’s the word?

Llorente has played a key role in helping Spurs to the showpiece, scoring the decisive goal in the aggregate quarter-final victory over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium and changing the game when introduced as a substitute against Ajax in the last four.

His contract expires this summer and it remains to be seen if the club will look to extend his deal.

But Fichajes claim that Bilbao, with whom Llorente spent eight years between 2005 and 2013, are set to shelve their plans for a reunion with the 34-year-old this summer.

In January earlier this year, Bilbao's chairman told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser (via Daily Mail) that he wanted to sign Llorente, but the latest report from Fichajes suggests that the La Liga side have now made a u-turn.

That may be down to their belief that the forward will be offered a new contract in north London, though The Sun claim that he will be released on a free transfer upon the expiration of his current deal.

Reward his heroics

This is the perfect time for Spurs to reward Llorente’s heroics.

No, he is not the most complete striker, nor is he anywhere near as good as Harry Kane but very few strikers on the planet are.

And his performances in the Champions League this season should surely be enough to earn him a new deal.

The lure of a return to the Basque Country will surely have appealed to Llorente but, with Bilbao seemingly pulling out of the race, there is no competition for Spurs to fight off.

Handing him a new contract, even if it is just a pay-as-you-play deal is the right thing to do; if they didn’t have Llorente, Spurs would not be playing in the Champions League final, after all, as they’d have been eliminated at the Etihad Stadium.