Athletic Bilbao president Josu Urrutia has confirmed that Fernando Llorente does not want to renew his contract with the Liga side amid interest from Juventus.
The 27-year-old striker’s current deal is due to expire at the end of the 2012-13 campaign, and the Basques were keen to hold on to the Spain international beyond the expiry date of his current contract.
However, Llorente has seemingly set his sights on a transfer, and will not extend his contract with last year’s Europa League and Copa del Rey finalists.
“Llorente has told us that he does not want to renew his contract with the club,” Urrutia revealed at a press conference.
“In case Llorente leaves the club, we will not sign another attacker. I can tell all clubs that want to sign one of our players that we are not a selling club. They will have to pay a player’s buy-out clause.”
Goal.com revealed on Saturday that Juventus have tabled a €16 million offer for Llorente, and the Serie A champions’ chances of getting their man appear to have increased following the striker’s decision not to ink a new deal with Bilbao.