Speaking on the Official Leeds United Podcast, Patrick Bamford has given his view on Diego Llorente.
The Spaniard made headlines this week, grabbing a late equaliser against Liverpool, netting his first ever goal for the club.
As you can imagine, Llorente was a hot-topic after the Liverpool game, and Bamford says he’s settling in off the pitch and improving on it.
“Since he started coming into the team more and started playing, he’s started to open up a lot more. He was relatively quiet when he first joined, and I think obviously it’s hard coming to a new club and getting injured and not knowing anyone. But he’s really stepped out of his own skin and he’s playing better and better each game. He’s a good lad, his English isn’t perfect, but he tries,” Bamford said.
The striker was then asked what Llorente is like as a person, to which he replied:
“He’s still quiet, he’s kind of an introvert, but he’s come out more than he did when he first joined. He’s still quiet, but he does interact with the lads a lot more, and he’s learning English better and better each week.”
Bamford was later questioned if any of the other players tried to help him settle in after he joined, and the striker said that the Spanish cohort at Elland Road were a massive help:
“I think the Spanish lads try, they helped him feel welcomed because all he spoke was Spanish when he joined, but the more he’s started to play, the more he’s talking to people on and off the pitch. I got maybe two words out of him during the first month he was here, but now he opens up and you can chat with him. I think he’s starting to feel a lot more settled.”
This is great to hear.
We’ve seen enough to be convinced by all of Leeds’ summer signings now, but Llorente was the last one to really stamp his authority on the Premier League.
Injuries have made this a real stop-start season for the Spaniard, but he seems to finally be finding his feet in West Yorkshire.
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