Pochettino has revealed his players were so excited by the signing of Llorente

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed his players were so excited by the signing of striker Fernando Llorente that he received text messages as the deal was sealed.

Llorente, who chose a deadline-day move to Spurs over Chelsea, arrives with a fine pedigree including spells at Juventus and Athletic Bilbao and a World Cup winner's medal with Spain.

'It's amazing. Hugo Lloris was in the national team and sent a text to me, "Gaffer, it's true about Llorente?"

'I said "Yes, we sign Llorente".

'He said, "Wow, fantastic player". That is the impact that he has on the changing room.

'When you saw him in training, it was like a 16 or 17-year-old going to training with the first team for the first time.

'That energy is fantastic and a very good example for everyone. He is a very good person and at Swansea last season he scored 15 goals. He can repeat the same with us.'

Remarkably, Llorente made his Athletic Bilbao first-team debut up against Pochettino 12 years ago. On January 16, 2005, Pochettino lined up in the Espanyol defence as the teams drew 1-1.

Pochettino said: 'He told me yesterday [on Friday]! And I said there is only one thing that I remember — you didn't score.'