Leeds United are set to move on a number of players this summer in order to balance the books, starting with those that used Victor Orta’s loan clause to leave the club a year ago.
The 49ers have admitted that there will have to be player sales this summer in order to comply with Financial Fairplay after failing to get promoted, losing to Southampton in the Championship play-off final.
Orta’s loan clause saw eight players leave last summer and the future of three has been confirmed. Robin Koch will join Frankfurt permanently, while Luis Sinisterra has agreed a permanent Bournemouth move.
Brenden Aaronson will return to Elland Road, generating a mixed response from fans. The future of Jack Harrison, Marc Roca, Max Wober, Rasmus Kristensen and Diego Llorente still needs to be sorted out.
Harrison and Roca are believed to be able to go on loan again, but Wober, Kristensen and Llorente do not have Orta’s clause in their deals for a second summer, but one of those has told Leeds he wants to go.
Leeds player tells club he wants to leave and join loan club
It will come as no surprise that Llorente is keen to leave Elland Road. The 30-year-old has spent the last 18 months on loan at Roma, playing 54 times and more than 40 of those came in the 2023-24 season.
Llorente is expected to rejoin Roma again with his agent having met the Roma sporting director this month. Daniele De Rossi described Llorente as a “tremendous” player after a late goal against Fiorentina.
A report from Roma News states that Llorente has told both Roma and Leeds he wants to join the Italian side permanently. A fee of £4.3m will be required to do the deal, with a gentleman’s agreement in place.
Mats Hummels could throw a deal for Llorente to leave on ice
The German veteran is set to leave Dortmund just a fortnight after helping the German club reach the Champions League final. He was surprisingly overlooked for Germany’s Euro 2024 squad, Koch preferred.
Reports over the weekend said that he has offered himself to Roma and is willing to take a pay cut to remain in Europe. A deal for Hummels could see Roma put a move for Llorente on ice this summer.
But, it also depends on the future of Chris Smalling who endured a dismal season with injury due to knee tendonitis. If Smalling goes, then Roma may look to do deals for both Hummels and Llorente.