Diego Llorente still isn’t ready to make his long-awaited debut for Leeds United.
The Spain international joined the Whites in an £18 million deal during the summer.
But due to a groin injury, the 27-year-old is yet to pull on a Leeds shirt in any competition.
There was growing optimism that Llorente was on the comeback trail after Bielsa’s comments about the big centre-back last week.
However, Bielsa has today ruled Llorente out of the trip to Everton on Saturday, along with Jamie Shackleton and Pablo Hernandez.
He said briefly, via Leeds’ official channel LUTV: “Shackleton, Pablo and Llorente are still not available, but the rest of the players are.”
Now is the time for Llorente to make his long-awaited return.
Bielsa’s side have six games during the month of December and as always, rotation could be key.
The veteran coach knows that a fruitful run of results during the festive season could make or break a side’s second half of the campaign.
And the better Leeds are over the next five weeks, the more chance that they could finish as high as possible and it’s just difficult to rotate defensively when Llorente – potentially your best defender – is still on the treatment table.
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