Roma reach agreement to sign Diego Llorente as £8.5m Leeds United exit news emerges
Roma sporting director Tiago Pinto has reached an “agreement” with Leeds United to sign Diego Llorente permanently, according to Il Romanista.
The Italian newspaper reported on their website on Sunday (18 June) that Roma had the option to buy Llorente, 29, for £15.3million this summer after he spent the second half of the season on loan at the Stadio Olimpico.
However, it is understood that due to Leeds relegation and the fact Llorente earns £44,000-a-week, Pinto is working on a new deal that sees Roma pay under £8.5million for the Spanish centre-back.
Goodbye, Diego
There won’t be any tears shed over Llorente’s exit.
He joined Leeds in 2020 and after an injury-raved debut season, he started to show a little bit of promise before it all fell away and he struggled to even play for the Whites under Jesse Marsch.
In eight Premier League appearances this season, he was abysmal.
Leeds’ only clean sheet with Llorente in the side came against Chelsea in a 3-0 win back in August but his other contributions were laughably bad – especially in the 5-2 loss to Brentford in September.
It was a shock when Roma signed Llorente in January but clearly, this is a talented defender who had lost his way at Leeds and wasn’t giving his all for the Whites.
He’s done well for Jose Mourinho in the Italian capital and even got to play in the Europa League final against Sevilla, turning out on the losing side.
Leeds will lose money, overall, on Llorente but getting a useless, flaky and injury-prone player off the wage bill for £8.5million isn’t the worst outcome.
