PSG now advance on deal to sign Leeds United defender Diego Llorente as news emerges from France
Paris Saint-Germain are now advancing on a deal to sign Leeds United loanee Diego Llorente as soon as possible, according to Santi Aouna.
The Foot Mercato journalist took to his personal Twitter account (9 January) to share that the French champions wanted to initially sign Bayern Munich defender Dayot Upamecano but the Germans knocked back their approach.
PSG manager Luis Enrique has now turned his attention to Llorente who earned a staggering £115k per week while he was a Leeds United player in the Premier League (Angus Kinnear, Square Ball, 9 September).
Aouna posted on his Twitter account: “PSG explored the Upamecano route. But the chances of signing this winter are almost zero.
“Paris is now advancing on Diego Llorente of AS Roma. Profile validated by Luis Enrique.”
Drive the price
Leeds United now find themselves with a wonderful opportunity to try and squeeze PSG out of every penny for Llorente’s signature.
And the fact that the French giants are pretty much desperate to sign him this month can only mean that a healthy windfall is now very much on the cards at Elland Road.
The Spanish defender has been an ever-present figure for Jose Mourinho’s team starting 15 of their 18 Serie A games with talk of Roma hoping to sign him permanently for a figure close to £4.3million (Roma Metropolitan, 20 December).
If the Whites can get close to that ballpark from PSG then they will have done incredibly well to get that fee for a player who will never step foot in West Yorkshire again and may well be past his best.
With his contract ending his six months, it will be catastrophic for the Whites to see yet another defender quit Elland Road for nothing after Robin Koch signed a pre-contract agreement with Eintracht Frankfurt, joining them permanently.
In other Leeds United news, Adam Pope slammed a Whites player for his “embarrassing” performance against Peterborough.