By Sam Stone

29th Nov, 2022 | 7:40pm

Leeds United may have forged link-up with La Liga club Elche as announcement made

Leeds United have confirmed they will be taking on Elche CF in a pre-season friendly ahead of their Premier League campaign restarting at the end of December.

However, this particular friendly could well be another example of a potential link emerging between the Spanish club and the Yorkshire giants.

We have seen Premier League clubs link up with clubs from all over the world, with Chelsea holding a close relationship with Vitesse Arnhem and Manchester City utilising Melbourne and New York City FC.

Leeds’ link with Elche is certainly an emerging one and this friendly could well have more to it than meets the eye.

Firstly, Orta has previously worked with the Spanish side who currently sit bottom of La Liga. The Spaniard spent a season at Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero before his two-year stint at Middlesbrough.

The potential partnership between the two clubs was also shown with Kiko Casilla moving to Elche on loan in the 2021/22 season. Furthermore, Leeds do also have previous history when it comes to links with Spanish clubs, with the Whites previously making Cultural Leonesa a feeder club in 2017.

There’s certainly enough to suggest Leeds could well be looking to add another string to their bow when it comes to a link abroad and it’s certainly not a bad thing. Having a relationship with a club such as Elche would allow for the Whites to send some of their younger talents out on loan to get some much-needed first-team experience.

Sonny Perkins, Mateo Joseph and Willy Gnonto could thrive if given the chance at a lesser European side such as Elche.

This could well be one to keep an eye on for Leeds fans moving forward.

In other Leeds United news, we can exclusively reveal that a takeover by the 49ers could be done within weeks.