Adam Pope responds to report Llorente wants to quit Leeds
On Monday, Spanish news outlet El Gol Digital dropped a huge claim by saying that Leeds United defender Diego Llorente wants out of Elland Road.
It was reported that Llorente, 27, had offered himself to Real Betis in a bid to return to Spain after being “ostracised” by manager Marcelo Bielsa.
BBC Radio Leeds journalist Adam Pope was asked on Tuesday whether there’s anything in that claim and he replied saying: “[Llorente] seems very settled.
Load of nonsense
Since joining Leeds from Real Sociedad for £18million [BBC Sport] in September, Llorente has had to battle his way back to fitness after several spells on the sidelines with injuries.
He’s made just six Premier League appearances for the Whites but that is solely down to his own injury issues and not because Biesla has frozen him out, as this report would suggest.
It’s an absolute shock of a report to read about Llorente and we don’t believe any of it.
The Spain international has been in good form since coming back into the side and playing every minute of each of the last four Premier League matches.
Leeds’ form hasn’t been the best in recent weeks but that’s largely down to a lack of goals. Defensively, the Whites have improved.
Overall this season, they’ve conceded 1.6 goals per Premier League game. When Llorente’s started, they conceded 1.1 per game.
We’re going to ignore this report about Llorente now unless there’s a big update. It doesn’t sound truthful at all.
In other Leeds United news, one Whites player has been named in Alan Shearer’s team of the week.