Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things relating to Leeds United.
One of the topics that he spent a little bit of time on was injuries and fitness updates ahead of the Whites’ clash with Chelsea.
One player who has not even made an appearance for Leeds yet this season is Diego Llorente, who, apart from one game as an unused substitute, has not even made the matchday squad on seven occasions since he signed from Real Sociedad.
The 27-year-old picked up an injury while on international duty with Spain, and he has not been seen since.
It doesn’t look like he will be featuring in this match either, according to Hay.
He said: (40:30) “I don’t think we will be seeing Llorente.
“He is fit essentially and over this injury that he had, the groin injury he came back from international duty with a couple of months ago, but Bielsa was saying he would much rather put him through some Under-23s games just to build his fitness up.
“I think [it] would feel like he was rushing him back if he was straight into the first-team squad.”
Do you think this is the right decision on Llorente?
Yes, seems sensible
No, get him involved
TIF Thoughts on Llorente and his injury…
It would probably be fair to say that since the Spanish international swapped La Liga for the Premier League, things have not quite gone to plan for him.
Even though he has now recovered from his injury, it looks like he will have to play some games for Leeds’ Under-23s before he is considered for selection by Marcelo Bielsa.
We don’t think this is bad for Llorente as Bielsa demands high levels of fitness from his players; however, we would understand if the Spaniard is frustrated as he has been at Leeds now since September and has not played a minute of first-team football for the Whites.