Roma director of football Tiago Pinto is working with Leeds United to secure a permanent deal for Leeds United defender Diego Llorente.
That’s according to Voce Giallorossa and Gazzetta dello Sport, who cover the Portuguese’s efforts to get a permanent deal for the Leeds man.
The former explains that while Roma need to secure €30m in sales before June 30th, they are continuing to focus on incomings as well and the plan is to make Llorente the third arrival after Evan N’Dicka and Houssem Aouar.
The Spaniard has ‘convinced everyone’ at the club after a loan deal this season and Pinto is ‘seeking an agreement’ with Leeds for him to return.
The Italian side could have redeemed the defender for €18m but did not want to pay that price as they deemed it too high and so Pinto is now therefore to ‘convince’ those in charge at Elland Road to find a new, more ‘affordable’ solution.
Gazzetta, meanwhile, state that Roma believe Leeds can be convinced into a surprising new deal, which would be another loan, and they can therefore use the money saved to sign another midfielder.
Why that is the case isn’t mentioned and it would seem strange for Leeds to sanction a loan, unless it contained a guaranteed purchase clause rather than an option.
Indeed, it would be very surprising if they were willing to do so but Pinto and Roma are working on a new agreement either way as they’re keen to have Llorente back.
