Diego Llorente was at Leeds United for four years before leaving them permanently for Real Betis in the summer window.
The Whites let the centre-back spend the last 18 months of his time at Elland Road on loan at AS Roma. They tried to sign him again, but the La Liga side won the battle in the end.
Llorente has been a regular for the Andalusian club, making 17 appearances this season. Diario de Sevilla had a chat with the former Leeds man, who discussed his time with the English club.
Leeds signed the defender from Real Sociedad in September 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 31-year-old has explained this made it difficult for him to initially adapt at the club.
The newspaper stated he had a ‘difficult start’ at Leeds. Responding to that, he said: “It was a complicated period, because many factors came together. It was still a time of Covid and there was no normality either on a personal or sporting level.
“It was also my first adventure outside Spain, which implies a necessary adaptation because the English culture is very different to ours.
In the last window, Daniel Farke’s side allowed Marc Roca to complete a permanent move to Real Betis. The midfielder and his club teammate, Pablo Fornals, convinced the defender to join the Spanish club.
When asked who he contacted from Real Betis before joining them, Llorente explained: “It was a very important decision, and I wanted to know where I was going to go. This time it was a bit the other way around and it was more people from Betis who contacted me.
“Then I did speak with Marc Roca and Pablo Fornals, and they told me what I knew they were going to tell me, that it was a great dressing room and that there was great ambition to achieve important things. It was a bit the opposite than with Leeds.”
Victor Orta was the sporting director when Llorente arrived at Leeds. The former is now at Sevilla, who are Real Betis’ local rivals.
After jokingly stating that Orta is now his “enemy”, the defender heaped praise on the director.
“I’ve very good memories of him, because in the end in football, beyond the competition and everything that is sport, there are people and friendships and Víctor treated me very well when I arrived at Leeds, he gave me all his support and for that I will always be grateful to him,” he added.
