By Pranav Shahaney

19th May, 2023 | 7:40pm

Diego Llorente does not fit in at Leeds United with summer transfer likely as Roma make decision

Phil Hay has reacted to the news that Roma will not be exercising their option to sign Leeds United defender Diego Llorente permanently.

Corriere dello Sport report on Thursday 18 May that the Serie A outfit are not willing to pay £15.6million to sign the Spain international permanently.

This means that at the end of the season, he will be returning to Elland Road, but his future appears to be in the air, as things stand.

The Athletic journalist said on the Phil Hay Show at 16:53 as he reacted to this development this week, “I don’t see where Llorente fits in at Leeds at all. So there’s a player you need to find a taker for. Perhaps there will be options possibly in Spain.”

Makes sense

Llorente is a player that can command a decent transfer fee and is also not one who can immediately break into the first team.

There are at least five or six centre-backs ahead of him in the pecking order and that will not miraculously change ahead of next season.

Even if the Whites get relegated, they might lose one or at the most two defenders and if Llorente is then an option, it remains to be seen if he wants to stay in the Championship.

There will be clubs in Spain willing to take a punt on him as he’s proven himself in La Liga and he would rather play there than fight for promotion.

It remains to be seen how this transpires but Leeds need to start finding takers for him as soon as possible.

His injury record this season is a cause for concern and that’s one thing that may dissuade clubs from making a move for him.

In other Leeds United news, an exit-bound senior player was spotted in tears after what happened recently.