Noel Whelan has admitted that he’s getting worried about the Diego Llorente situation at Leeds United.
The Premier League new boys spent big on bringing the Spain international, shelling out £18 million last summer.
But since then, the 27-year-old has only managed 91 minutes of league football for Leeds, spread across two appearances and went down after 10 minutes in last night’s 2-1 win away to Newcastle United, replaced by Pascal Struijk.
Given how much the Whites spent on bringing him in, combined with the fact that Robin Koch is also sidelined, this is a desperate situation for Marcelo Bielsa and the club.
And former United hitman Whelan has acknowledged on BBC Radio Leeds that it just hasn’t worked out for the big man in West Yorkshire so far.
He said: “It’s worrying. A player of that age and international ability, we really need to have in the side. It’s been very much stop-start. Coming in for a game, injured for many. It does worry me. It’s not been a good start.”
Some Leeds fans might argue that the likes of Patrick Bamford also had stop-start first seasons at Elland Road.
And that’s true, but this is far more serious it seems.
We’re halfway through the campaign and Llorente has only played the equivalent of one full match.
The good news is that Leeds are 14 points clear of the bottom three, so there’s no realistic threat of relegation, but it does make you wonder how much better the 12th-placed Whites would be doing if they had a bit of stability at the back.
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