Phil Hay: Diego Llorente has made a big impression on Leeds teammates
After a run of injuries, that restricted him to just two appearances in his first 22 games, Leeds United centre-back Diego Llorente has now managed to come through a full 90 minutes in his last two matches.
Leeds fans have started to see why Victor Orta brought him to the club, with Llorente putting in a particularly solid performance against Aston Villa, despite the 1-0 loss.
According to Athletic journalist Phil Hay, that hasn’t come as a surprise to his Leeds teammates.
Despite his troubles at Leeds, Llorente settled in quickly at Thorp Arch and won the confidence of his teammates immediately.
Writing in The Athletic, Hay said, “On a personal level, he [Llorente] is understood to have settled well in England, a strong and competitive presence in training who, according to sources at Thorp Arch, had the rest of the players sold on him after his first few sessions.”
Hay said Llorente’s “only blemish on Saturday was an exaggerated reaction to Ollie Watkins fouling him in the first half.”
Koch and Cooper, or Koch and Llorente?
Leeds fans were calling for Bielsa to sign a new centre-back in January.
Injuries had ravaged us, with Llorente, Robin Koch and Gaetano Berardi all out.
With Llorente back and playing well, the emergency is over, especially as Pascal Struijk has started proving himself at the back too.
Gaetano Berardi made his long-awaited return from an ACL injury on Monday and came through 45 minutes for the Under-23s.
Koch should be back in training this week.
Llorente put in an excellent performance against Villa and two areas impressed on Saturday.
First, Llorente’s positional sense, that enabled him to make an incredible 19 recoveries. [WyScout]
He also won 71% of his defensive duels, 67% of his aerial duels and 80% of his loose ball duels.
His passing – so important under the Bielsa system – was impressive too. He had a 91% pass accuracy, with both of his passes to the final third finding their mark.
As Hay said, Leeds fans didn’t like the play-acting after a challenge from Ollie Watkins but we’re confident that Bielsa will get that out of his game quickly.
If Koch and Cooper was the number one choice with all players fit, Llorente could quickly become a big part of that conversation.
In other Leeds United news, ‘No place in PL for this’ – Exclusive: Pundit savages Leeds ace after defeat v Aston Villa