As reported this evening on the Leeds United Official website, 29 year old Spanish defender Diego Llorente has completed his loan move to Jose Mourinho’s Serie A side AS Roma.
News broke yesterday that Llorente had travelled to Italy to complete a medical ahead of his move. In a way, the news took a lot of Leeds fans by surprise, as just over a month ago we saw the centre back put pen to paper on a contract extension at Elland Road.
This season has been a tough one for Diego Llorente at Leeds. Game time has been limited due to a loss of form and a run of less-than-impressive performances, namely in a 5-2 defeat away to Brentford earlier in the 2022-23 campaign.
Llorente’s time at Leeds will be reflected on as a bit of a mixed bag. His first season at the club got off to a slow start due to injury, but when he came into the side he looked like a solid option in the Leeds defence. Leeds finished in the top half of the Premier League that season and registered 12 clean sheets, putting on some impressive defensive displays in English football’s top flight.
However, last season saw a dip as the Spaniard started to drift away from the starting lineup.
While Llorente’s move to Roma is at present a loan move, there is a buy option included in the deal, to the value of €18 million – confirmed by transfer expert Fabrizio Romano:
Official, completed. Diego Llorente joins AS Roma on loan deal plus €18m buy option clause from Leeds. ⚪️🤝🏻 #DeadlineDay pic.twitter.com/H8ETVlRQTg
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 31, 2023
It’ll be interesting to see how he gets on under Mourinho. The Special One is known for his solid defensive set ups, so he must see something in Diego Llorente to bring him to Roma. Perhaps the Premier League wasn’t the best place for the 29 year old right now, and he can rekindle his form in a new setting.
Leeds today completed the signing of 18 year old central defender Diogo Monteiro from Swiss Super League side Servette, who is expected to link in with Leeds academy set up. We’ll be watching closely at how the defensive setup at Leeds progresses, so be sure to keep an eye on the website and on our Twitter at @VitalLeeds.