Leeds United’s squad officially reported back for day one of pre-season today.
The Whites have had slightly longer off than the rest of the Championship due to their involvement in the play-off final, but were at Thorp Arch on Tuesday for the first day of testing.
All of the big names including Crysencio Summerville and Willy Gnonto were back in Yorkshire despite ongoing speculation surrounding their futures at the club.
Summerville was linked with a move to PSG earlier today and alongside Gnonto and Illan Meslier, was one of three players Leeds had been open to selling before Archie Gray’s move to Tottenham.
Pascal Struijk was another welcome sight alongside the rest of the squad after over six months out with injury, while returning loanee Sam Greenwood was also there.
Diego Llorente not spotted back in Leeds pre-season video
Leeds have shared a 10 minute video on YouTube of day one of pre-season and in fairness, there weren’t too many notable exceptions.
Brenden Aaronson, Max Wober and Rasmus Kristensen were all, of course, absent amid their involvement in the major international tournaments.
Aaronson and Kristensen will be due back in the next couple of weeks having already been knocked out, though the latter still needs his future clarifying. Wober, meanwhile, is still at Euro 2024 with Austria.
Following Jack Harrison and Marc Roca’s exits last week, Diego Llorente was the only returning loanee who had a chance of being back for day one.
However, the Spanish defender was not spotted in the video amid reports he is closing in on a move to Real Betis.
There was always a chance Llorente would be told to stay away from Thorp Arch amid growing speculation surrounding a move, and it would appear Daniel Farke has told him to do exactly that.
While there remains a chance Wober and Kristensen could return, his absence today would indicate there is no way back for the 30-year-old at Leeds, despite his lack of loan clause.
How far along is Llorente’s move to Betis?
It had looked likely Llorente would be heading back to AS Roma for a third spell but Fabrizio Romano confirmed on Saturday that it would not be happening.
Instead, a move to Betis now seems the most likely scenario as they are willing to buy him permanently from Leeds and reunite him with Roca.
The most recent report regarding his future came on Sunday suggested that a move to Betis is all but done for £5m and his apparent absence on day one would indicate that.
