Leeds United loanee hints at future uncertainty amid Paraag Marathe admission

On-loan Leeds United defender Diego Llorente is unaware of what his future looks like once his current spell at Roma comes to an end this summer.

Llorente has been at Roma since January 2023, having initially penned a half-season loan that was extended for a further year last summer. The 30-year-old has cemented himself as a regular starter with the Serie A outfit, particularly since the arrival of club legend Daniele De Rossi as manager.

Reports on Llorente’s future have differed, with some suggesting a permanent option has already been activated after a certain number of appearances while others suggest talks are ongoing between Leeds and Roma. As things stand, the Spanish international is due back in West Yorkshire next month but would seemingly be open to another stint in Rome, although he is not certain where next season will put him.

“This team seems like a big family,” Llorente told Spagnaculturaescienza.it (via Il Romanista). “The atmosphere in the club is always positive. I feel the closeness of the owners, of the managers. I am very happy here, my wife and children too. I don’t know what the future holds, but as a club I will always have fantastic memories of Roma.” 

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Llorente has been one of the more successful loan exits from Elland Road, having played 29 times in Serie A as Roma finished sixth and qualified for the Europa League. The experienced defender joined Robin Koch, Jack Harrison, Marc Roca and Max Wober in having a mainly positive spells away. Rasmus Kristensen - who joined Llorente in Rome - and Brenden Aaronson have struggled.

All of the above were able to force temporary exits last summer after triggering loan clauses that became active following relegation. But the club is not facing a similar scenario in the upcoming transfer window and will retain a much greater degree of control over outgoing business. Chairman Paraag Marathe recently informed the Yorkshire Evening Post of plans to discuss the futures of those players.

"We have to sit down as a leadership team with Daniel to figure out which ones and how we manage all of that," he said. "I will say that fortunately, we don't have as many of those situations as we had last year, and also we aren't in a race against time, as we were last year at this point. I think we still were 12 days away from even finalising the transaction to take over the club, let alone starting our interview process for a manager so, you know, we have a lot more time to think about it. 

"It was difficult last year, having to deal with this, whether it's the loan clauses or the exits. It's maybe not as difficult anymore because now I've had a year to come to terms with it. You know, there are certain things we inherited that we will deal with in the best way that we can, and the folks that have those perennial loan clauses - we'll see how it transpires."