Tiago Pinto flying to London for transfer talks as Diego Llorente set for straight loan from Leeds United to AS Roma
Leeds United and Roma have come to a complete agreement that will see Diego Llorente return to Italy on a straight loan for the 2023/24 season, according to Il Tempo (26 June).
Llorente joined Roma on loan in January after penning a new contract at Elland Road, with an €18m clause to make the deal permanent for the new season.
Roma want him to stay but didn’t want to pay up, and the parties have now come to an agreement on a straight loan for the new season with director of football Tiago Pinto flying to London to finalise details.
“Diego Llorente stays at Roma,” they wrote (26 June).
“Tiago Pinto, who left for London this morning for a series of transfer market appointments (the CEO Lina Souloukou also flew to the English capital for other meetings), has reached an agreement with Leeds for a straight loan.”
Sensible
It’s quite obvious to anyone with eyes that Llorente doesn’t want to be at Leeds anymore and the club were obviously willing to let him go while they were in the Premier League.
His transfer value is still protected after the new contract that was signed extended his stay at the club, so there is no rush to sell him permanently if we can’t get good value.
Roma agreed to a fee simply to get the deal over the line for January seemingly with no intention of ever paying that much, and it now seems as though Leeds aren’t willing to give them a discount.
But ultimately getting his wages off the books is necessary right now while we’re in the Championship and he wants Roma, so the deal was there to be done and now is.
Official transfer stuff is said to be on hold until a new manager is appointed, but the club are pressing ahead with getting deals in place at this point to ensure they’re not left behind.
In other Leeds news, a European club “dream” of signing this trio with “staggering” fees mooted.