Centre-backs are hard to find and that’s why Leeds United tied down Diego Llorente to Elland Road until 2026 last month. The Spain international agreed to terms on a new contract with the Whites which takes him to within six weeks of his 33rd birthday.
Since arriving at Elland Road in September 2020, Llorente has started 55 of the 99 matches the club has played in all competitions. Injuries heavily restricted his availability in his first campaign, but last term he was missing from only 11 line-ups.
This year, after a consistent run through August, Jesse Marsch has generally overlooked Llorente. There have been just three starts since September 3 and just one of those was in the Premier League.
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However, Marsch, Victor Orta and the Leeds board signed off on a new deal for the 29-year-old. With a new contract for Robin Koch in the pipeline, Leeds have set their stall out for the right side of their central defence across the years ahead.
The head coach does not feel there will be a plethora of alternative centre-backs out there for Leeds in the coming transfer windows, hence the move to tie a good one like Llorente down.
“Diego, first of all, at the beginning stages of the season was playing very well,” said Marsch. “Then Coops (Liam Cooper) came back and at the time we made that decision (to leave out Llorente).
“Coops is an important player for us from a leadership perspective, from a player perspective, everything. When Diego came on against Monaco we gave up three goals right away, he was almost just getting himself going, so it was a little unfortunate for him, but tonight (against Manchester City) he played well.
“The reason [we offered him the new contract] is because we think he has quality. Centre-backs aren't easy to find and so when you have a good one you want to find a way to hold onto them.”
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