Cut-price Leeds United sale agreed despite multi-club interest in 30-y/o — Fabrizio Romano — Leeds All Over 8/7/24
Kris Smith
Leeds United have agreed to sell Diego Llorente to Real
Betis for a modest fee this week despite interest from several clubs.
Alongside the one huge departure in Archie Gray to
Tottenham, Leeds have been doing a fair bit of housekeeping to part ways with
several fringe players or those who exploited their loan clauses.
Diego Llorente was one of the latter, concluding his loan
spell at Roma that spanned 18 months and in the hunt for a permanent deal
elsewhere.
Fabrizio Romano has revealed in the last 24 hours that Leeds
have agreed a deal with Real Betis to see centre-back Llorente head to the
Seville club.
It comes amid previous reported bids and a tug-of-war
between Betis and Roma over his signature, now with the race won by Manuel
Pellegrini’s side.
The fee in question seems quite meagre after he joined for
£18million in 2020, now being sold for just €3million (£2.54million):
What is interesting is the nominal fee that Leeds are set to
bank for the defender while “many clubs” were looking to bring him in.
Llorente will be joining Marc Roca at Betis, subject to
formalities, after the midfielder’s £4.3million deal was agreed at the end of
June.
As much as we’ve only received a tiny sum to sell Llorente
in the scheme of things, it’s still a worthwhile sale.
Off the back of a new contract in December 2022, this fee
should represent a profit for us, having amortised his original fee over the
contract that would have expired this summer.
He should do well at Betis and we’re getting hefty wages off
the books for good, which can only be a good thing.