Leeds United journalist Beren Cross has been sharing his thoughts on Whites defender Diego Llorente and his current fitness situation.
This comes after Cross recently made an appearance on a Facebook video for Leeds United Live where he spoke about a number of topics concerning the Yorkshire club.
On the topic of Llorente and the fact that he has not yet made an appearance for Leeds so far this season, Cross had this to say on the matter.
He said: “It’s overdue [Llorente’s first Leeds appearance]. I’m pleased you mention him, because it’s really dragged on now. I think if you think back to the original injuries, we’re talking last international break – him and [Liam] Cooper both came back with problems and the club put out an official prognosis for both of them and they said that Llorente was slightly more severe than Cooper’s, but we’re only talking by a week or so.
“I think the Leicester game was a conservative estimate for Llorente, if not Leicester, then the Palace game, Llorente should have absolutely been fit by then, based on the original prognosis.
“If he’s not available for Arsenal, then I think we may well press [Marcelo] Bielsa a little bit more in the press conference.”
Leeds signed the defender in the previous summer transfer window from Spanish side Real Sociedad for a fee of £18 million.
However, the 27-year-old has yet to make an appearance for Leeds and has only made the substitutes’ bench once – for the club’s 1-1 draw against Manchester City back in October (per Transfermarkt).
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TIF Thoughts on Beren Cross’ comments on Diego Llorente’s fitness…
The official prognosis Cross mentioned in the video came back on 12th October, when the club revealed that Llorente had suffered a groin injury and should be back fit in three weeks.
It has now been over five weeks and Llorente has still not played a game for Leeds. However, now that the international break is almost over, it will be interesting to see if the defender makes his first appearance for the club in their weekend league clash against Arsenal.
If he does not, questions may have to be asked with regards to his Leeds future. We have seen in the past how injuries have hampered players’ careers at Leeds – particularly under Marcelo Bielsa – namely the ill-fated spell of Jean-Kevin Augustin, who left Elland Road without contributing much of note having struggled with his fitness since securing a short-term loan move back in January.
In our view, it’s a shame that Llorente hasn’t managed to play for Leeds yet but hopefully, he will be able to play his part in the squad for the remainder of the season.