By George Overhill

30th Jan, 2023 | 8:25pm

Diego Llorente whisked to Villa Stuart medical centre Monday for Leeds United to Roma move amid £659,000 payment

Roma are paying €750,000 [£659,000] to sign Diego Llorente on loan from Leeds United ahead of a likely permanent move, la Gazetta dello Sport reports.

In what the pink Italian paper calls an “expensive” loan deal, the Spaniard is now considered to have a “great opportunity in his hands” to break into Jose Mourinho’s defence in the Italian capital.

Having fallen out of favour at Elland Road amid highly inconsistent form arrived at the airport in Rome on Monday (30 January), reportedly arriving at 5.36pm local time on a flight from Madrid.

He is now set to complete a surprise exit, with an option included in the deal that is as good as an obligation due to the ease of the conditions being activated, while will end up netting the Whites more than the original £18million paid to Real Sociedad in 2020.

Sky Sports had reported earlier on Monday that the 29-year-old was already undertaking his medical but Gazzetta have now specified that he was whisked in a club van straight from the airport this evening to the Villa Stuart Private Clinic in Rome for the tests.

Income

The Leeds United hierarchy felt they could make money back on Llorente when they gave him a surprise long-term contract extension on 23 December, in a move which looked like wishful thinking at best.

But they have been proven quite spectacularly right after securing a move little over a month later that brings in a small fee now and a profit at the end of the year.

Perhaps Llorente will be better suited to Serie A and will flourish under the guidance of the Special One, but his form at Elland Road this season hasn’t suggested that was likely to happen under Jesse Marsch.

Should the Spaniard perform well in Italy then questions may be asked of the American, whose defence has been a weakness for months now, prior to the encouraging start made by Max Wober.

However, if the new signings see the Leeds United form improve under the current boss and a climb up the table follows then nobody will mind too much.

The late window moves this month look well planned in comparison to the desperate scramble that ended the summer window, and appear to have put the club in a good position for the rest of the season.

In other Leeds United news, Fabrizio Romano has reported another late-window deal is complete at Elland Road with the contract signed as well.