BREAKING NEWS: £18 million Leeds player set to make second permanent departure, following

It was announced earlier this month that Bournemouth and Leeds United had reached a permanent agreement for Luis Sinisterra. After initially signing with the Cherries on a season-long loan with a buyout option, Andoni Iraola’s team moved quickly to secure the Colombian’s long-term contract for a sum of £20 million. Leeds is happy that they have avoided losing the player they signed from Feyenoord, even if they have now lost two players to the south coast team in the same season after Tyler Adams made the similar transfer last summer.

Diego Llorente, a center-back, also left Leeds in 2023 to play for Roma in Serie A. The main distinction, though, was that Llorente moved forward in January and committed to a first 18-month stint; also, there may have been an agreement stipulating that Roma would have to purchase the Spaniard should certain requirements be fulfilled.

Il Romanista now claims that Roma is “one step away” from permanently signing Leeds player Llorente. The Italian team sees Llorente as a vital component and is committed to strengthening their defense for the upcoming campaign.

He will automatically join if he continues to play as nears the aformentioned criteria, and there’s a feeling that “only the official confirmation” is missing at this stage. The move, then, looks like an inevitability.

£18m Llorente may not be last loanee to say goodbye

After Leeds was promoted to the Premier League in 2020 under Marcelo Bielsa, they paid roughly £18 million to recruit Llorente from Real Sociedad. He participated in 15 Premier League games and helped the Whites secure a ninth-place finish during a campaign marred by three different injuries. He made 28 appearances the following year in a valiant attempt to survive, but he lost ground to Jesse Marsch in the early half of 2022–2023 and eventually left.

As you can see in the table above, Llorente has been a key player for Roma this season as the Giallorossi battle to finish in the top four in Serie A and avenge their defeat in last season’s Europa League final. In addition to playing in 21 of their 24 league games, he’s started five of their six matches in UEFA competition up to this point.

It’s unclear which other loanees have played their last game for Championship promotion-chasing Leeds, since Llorente is expected to follow Sinisterra out the door. After reaching pre-contract negotiations with Eintracht Frankfurt prior to the expiration of his Whites deal this summer, Robin Koch has already bid farewell to Daniel Farke’s team. If Everton chooses to trigger Jack Harrison’s release clause, he may also depart.