Diaz impressed as Leeds Under-23’s beat Newcastle in the Premier League Cup.
Hugo Diaz earned the applause from Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani on Monday night after the Spaniard starred in Leeds Under-23’s win over Newcastle United – and he should be the next Leeds player to earn a new deal.
Leeds booked their place in the knockout round of the Premier League Cup by finishing top of Group H thanks to their 3-1 win over The Toon, after a brace from Ryan Edmondson and a goal for defender Pascal Struijk.
Diaz saw out the entire 90 minutes in a three-man defence alongside goalscorer Struijk and colossal defender Aapo Halme, nullifying the Newcastle attack with aplomb.
The former Deportivo La Coruna star posted on Twitter after the match, describing his side’s performance as “amazing” and Radrizzani reacted by stating he is “proud” of Diaz.
Diaz, 22, joined Leeds in the summer of 2017 from Spanish side Silva SD after leaving Deportivo at the start of 2017, and has since been a regular in Corberan’s second string.
He has featured for the senior side once, coming on for the last 30 minutes of a 3-1 defeat to Preston North End in April 2018, as well as sitting on the bench as an unused substitute in this season’s FA Cup loss to QPR.
The Spanish ace has a contract at Elland Road until the summer of 2020, leaving Leeds with two transfer windows to decide whether to keep Diaz or offload him and bring in some cash for his services.
Given that he has earned the plaudits of Radrizzani, Leeds surely have got to give Diaz what he deserves and extend his contract beyond June 2020 – especially with the Whites lacking in options at the heart of their defence.
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