Josh Hobbs of Leeds United-focused channel All Stats Aren’t We joined Joe Wainman and the panel on a recent video for All Leeds TV to discuss a variety of topics around the club following back-to-back defeats to Leicester City and Crystal Palace.
One of the subjects that came up in conversation was the left centre-back position in Marcelo Bielsa’s side leading to a discussion regarding Diego Llorente, the 27-year-old Spanish defender signed from Real Sociedad in the summer for £18m (as per Transfermarkt).
The player is yet to take to the field for the Whites but when discussing him, Hobbs shared his view about where he may fit into the side. Here is what he had to say:
“I think [Liam] Cooper will play left centre-back for the vast majority of this season, I think he’ll be picked to play left centre-back whenever he’s fit. He’s the captain of the team and he’s [a] natural left-footer, which I think makes it strongly in his favour that he will be in that position.
“Llorente played left centre-back for [Real] Sociedad last season and a lot of their fans were literally celebrating that they got £20m for him. That should be quite concerning, I think.
“He’s not natural playing left centre-back, he defends on his weak side a lot of the time that way, he is not going to pass the ball as well as he does when he is on the right.
“We obviously haven’t seen him in a Leeds shirt yet, so please don’t hear me as writing him off, because I’m not, but I think him and [Robin] Koch will compete for [the right-sided] centre-back [position].”
Would you like to see Diego Llorente play alongside Robin Koch?
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TIF Thoughts on Josh Hobbs’ comments regarding how Diego Llorente may feature in Bielsa’s plans…
Judging by what the panellist had to say, it seems he feels Liam Cooper’s position in the defence is safe. The club captain has missed three of Leeds United’s eight Premier League games so far this season (as per Transfermarkt) but the above comments suggest that in Hobbs’ view, he will not be in direct competition with Llorente once he is available.
With Llorente being right-footed, you can certainly understand why some may be of the opinion that he is far better suited to playing to the right of the defence. However, in our view, that doesn’t necessarily mean he cannot be an option on the left if required.