Diego Llorente’s time at Leeds United, regardless of whether or not he remains at AS Roma this summer, appears to be over.
That’s according to AS Roma Live, who have an article at some of the money that could be spent by the Serie A side this summer.
They loaned the Spaniard from Leeds late in January as they needed cover for their starting defenders, but circumstances forced José Mourinho to start the defender this weekend, and he didn’t disappoint.
We’ve already covered the quotes from both the Portuguese and the defender following the 3-0 win at the weekend, and now there is a bit of news about his future.
It’s said that his qualities have not gone unnoticed in Rome, and the Serie A side have actually ‘decided to bet on him again for next season’.
That suggests they want to keep him around, but it’s pointed out that the €18m option to buy in the deal makes talks ‘complicated’, as they simply cannot afford that for a player who ‘risks remaining out of the starting XI anyway’.
Despite this, Tiago Pinto, the club’s technical director, ‘knows that the player has now closed his cycle’ at Leeds, and will ‘most likely try a new offer in the summer’ to try and get Victor Orta to lower his demands in the hope that ‘there aren’t too many teams interested’.
The ideal scenario would be to close a deal for less than €15m, perhaps also ‘managing to include a counterpart’, thus limiting the amount of actual money spent.
Whether this is something Leeds would be open to, however, remains to be seen.
