Leeds United have sealed the £18 million signing of defender Diego Llorente, report Phil Hay and Adam Crafton.
He has penned a four-year deal with Leeds. Director of football Victor Orta spent the last few days in talks as Leeds pushed to conclude a deal before the weekend.
The former Real Madrid man is the second Spain international to sign for Leeds this summer after the arrival of Rodrigo from Valencia.
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What are the numbers behind the deal?
Llorente’s fee is worth in the region of £18 million — much the same as Leeds were ready to commit to Dinamo Zagreb’s Josko Gvardiol.
Gvardiol is heading to RB Leipzig and Leeds have used the cash on Llorente instead.
They’ve been after an additional centre-back since bringing in Robin Koch from Freiburg.
Where will he fit in at Leeds?
This is where it gets interesting. Llorente’s a Spain international and a very experienced defender. And at 27, he’ll want to play.
But Koch and Liam Cooper are Marcelo Bielsa’s preferred centre-back pairing and it doesn’t seem likely that Bielsa will switch to a back three.
So initially Llorente might need to bide his time. Given the timescale, there’s little chance of him being in the squad for Sunday’s game at Sheffield United.
What does this mean for Leeds’ existing defenders?
It means Bielsa has cover. He likes a right-foot, left-foot mix at centre-back. With this signing, Pascal Struijk can fill in for Cooper on the left-hand side and Llorente can battle it out with Koch on the right.
But in terms of the back four as it stands, we should expect it to stay as it is for now.
Were there other options?
Gvardiol was the obvious one and the club spent some time trying to seal that transfer. As recently as the weekend, they were still hoping it might happen but Leipzig appear to have won the race.
Leeds also liked Axel Tuanzebe at Manchester United but didn’t go as far as submitting a formal bid.
Why did Sociedad let him go?
His contract expired in 2022 and the club and player did not share a desire to discuss new terms.
Llorente has sought a move to the Premier League for several years now and at 27, and during a time of economic need for La Real, it was viewed as a sensible time to cash in.
Will Leeds do any other business?
Almost certainly. They’re ready to move for Dan James if Manchester United decide to make him available.
They’d also like a midfielder who can play centrally. Their interest in Udinese’s Rodrigo De Paul doesn’t seem to be going anywhere but links to Atalanta's Ukrainian midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi are credible.
Expect more deals to happen.
(Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)