Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Marcelo Bielsa has confirmed that Diego Llorente isn’t available for selection for the Whites’ Premier League opener against Manchester United.
Llorente had cemented himself as one of the Whites’ first-choice centre-halves towards the back end of last season, but sadly, injuries continue to plague the Spaniard.
Indeed, Llorente picked up an injury towards the end of last month in a pre-season friendly against Real Betis, and he’s still not fully recovered.
What’s been said?
Bielsa had good news about Junior Firpo, but sadly the same can’t be said about Llorente.
“Firpo is available and Llorente isn’t.” Bielsa said.
Bielsa was then asked when Llorente would be back in action, to which he replied:
“Subject to evolution, but one or two more weeks.”
Not the biggest blow
Not having Llorente available isn’t ideal, but it certainly isn’t the biggest blow to the Whites’ chances this weekend.
Luckily, Leeds have a plethora of capable centre-halves in their squad with the likes of Pascal Struijk, Robin Koch and Liam Cooper ready to step in.
Manchester United will prove to be tough opposition, and while Leeds could have done with having Llorente fit and firing, it’s not the end of the world.
Fingers crossed the Spaniard can get through this season with fewer injury issues than he had last term.
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