£4m+ could vanish into thin air at Leeds United after Diego Llorente development at AS Roma
Leeds United face the threat of seeing as much as £4m vanish into thin air at Elland Road after a fresh development on loanee Diego Llorente.
The Spanish defender was surprisingly brought in by Jose Mourinho at AS Roma at the end of the January transfer window on a temporary basis with the potential to make it a permanent move in the summer, with an £18million option-to-buy clause in the loan contract [Daily Mail, 31 January].
Llorente had initially struggled for game-time and confidence since his move but reportedly made Mourinho proud on his full debut against Sampdoria [2 April] as the defender still works on a permanent Leeds United exit, as per Corriere dello Sport [3 April].
Forza Roma reported back in April that the Spaniard had told those closest to him that he was looking forward to ending his association with Leeds United for good and that certainly looks to be a possibility in the January window.
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).
The Italian giants want to strengthen in defence, including making Llorente’s stay in Rome permanent in a move that would cost just over £4million.
However, things have taken a turn for the worse for Llorente with his form at Roma taking a nosedive and a development this week could see millions vanish at Leeds United.
Llorente played the full 90 minutes as AS Roma suffered defeat at the hands of Juventus in the Italian Serie A on Saturday (30 December).
Adrien Rabiot’s second-half goal earned Juventus a 1-0 home win against Roma which meant Jose Mourinho’s relinquished their spot in the Serie A top six.
And Italian news outlet Corriere Dello Sport (30 December) completely savaged the centre-back for his display on Saturday night, writing: “What a struggle with Vlahovic. The Spaniard is unable to keep it so after nineteen minutes he is forced to thank Mancini for the result-saving intervention, then at the start of the second half he makes an omelette by letting his backheel pass behind him which triggered Rabiot.”
The Giallorossi have lost two of their last three games in Serie A and such performances from Llorente now make the hope of Leeds recouping some of the £4.3m agreed increasingly unlikely.
It has seemed rather clear for some time that Llorente doesn’t have much of a permanent future at Elland Road beyond the end of his loan spell with Roma and Leeds United should accept whatever fee arrives at their door for the defender.
The 30-year-old has a contract with the Whites until the summer of 2026, so they will hope to receive a decent fee for him at the end of the season.
However, if Llorente continues to perform like he did over the weekend, AS Roma can easily renege on their agreement which could certainly see the Whites lose the opportunity of recouping millions in the bank.
Given £6million-a-year wages at Elland Road, Leeds United must get him off his books soon enough and that is certainly likely to happen at some point during the season [Phil Hay, The Square Ball, 9 September].
The way things are developing that’s got to happen once the January window opens in a matter of hours.
In other Leeds United news, Gary Rowett has admitted that he is “fed up” following several controversial decisions against West Brom