Leeds United respond as official bid made for Diego Llorente transfer
Leeds United have rejected an official transfer offer from Real Betis for defender Diego Llorente, according to Adam Pope.
Writing on his personal X account (3 July), the BBC Sport journalist reports that the La Liga club made an offer for the central defender but it didn’t match what the Whites want for him.
Llorente spent the last 18 months on loan at Roma in Serie A but they decided against triggering their buy-option for the deal, opening up the door for a move back to his homeland to rejoin Marc Roca, who completed a permanent move earlier in the window.
Leeds United to sell Diego Llorente for the right price
It’s clear that Llorente doesn’t have a future at Elland Road despite having time remaining on his contract, and the best path for everyone is that he finds a new club.
A move to Betis makes a lot of sense as he can return to Spain, but Leeds won’t be forced into selling for a cheaper amount just because he wants out.
Every player has a book value and Llorente has been playing in a top-five European league, so his value shouldn’t have decreased much and Betis have got the money to get a deal done.
Llorente “certainly” won’t play in the Championship in the 2024/25 season and reports suggest Leeds are open to selling him for as little as £2.5million [Siamo La Roma, 27 June], so for them to reject a bid shows how much of a low-ball offer it must have been.
There is plenty of time to go in the window and no rush for Llorente to move on just yet, so if Betis don’t up their price the Whites will be looking for alternative buyers to come in.
In other Leeds news, the club are set to lose a chunk of any transfer fee they receive for one player this summer.
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