An initial dose of Diego Llorente is intoxicating. Llorente spent the second half of last season on loan at Roma, and Jose Mourinho can’t resist another hit. Jose might be a headcase, but he’s not daft. Llorente has rejoined Roma on a season-long loan, although it’s unclear whether there is an option for the move to be made permanent. Maybe Mourinho suspects too much of a good thing can leave you with sweaty palms, itchy teeth, and pains in your chest.

Various reports in Italy suggested Leeds wanted the loan to include an obligation for Roma to buy Llorente, whereas Roma just wanted a straight loan, so they settled on a compromise of clauses that would activate a permanent transfer if met — something along the lines of, if he plays in half their games then he’s theirs to keep. So don’t be surprised if he appears in 49% of their fixtures. As Jean-Kevin Augustin knows all too well, these things are often open to interpretation.

How it started

Mallik Wilks has a lot to answer for. Marcelo Bielsa was happy with Robin Koch as Ben White’s replacement following promotion, even if Gaetano Berardi was going to miss the majority of the season due to a serious knee injury. Bielsa never cared much for too many centre-backs. He could always give Charlie Cresswell or Olly Casey a chance if required.

That was until he gave Cresswell and Casey a chance in an early League Cup tie against Hull, with Leif Davis completing a back three. Hull had finished bottom of the Championship that Leeds had won, yet gave Leeds the runaround at Elland Road, with our former academy player Wilks scoring after five minutes.

Gjanni Alioski scored a stoppage-time equaliser, but Hull won on penalties anyway, prompting Victor Orta to convince Bielsa reinforcements were required, and an £18m Spain international formerly of Real Madrid was just the man for the job. Turns out Bielsa wasn’t quite the tyrant turning down target after target that the board later tried to paint him as. It says a lot about the culture of complacency that subsequently set in that Orta and Andrea Radrizzani never felt the same urgency about giving Bielsa a central midfielder.

How it went

For six months, it was great. Llorente missed the first half of his debut season with groin and hamstring injuries, but his return coincided with Robin Koch missing the second half of the campaign. Diego seemed like an upgrade, adding a new dimension to the defence in possession, and the hints of madness only made him more fun as Leeds won seven of his thirteen consecutive starts, losing just three times on the way to finishing 9th. Llorente at the back, Bamford in attack, Leeds are going to win the Premier League!

Unfortunately Llorente was soon consumed by the madness. Leeds’ defence fell apart over the next two seasons, and it felt like a relief for everyone when he joined Roma this past January. The fact he was given a new contract until 2026 a month before being loaned out suggests he wasn’t the only person losing their grip on reality at Elland Road.

Best moment

Elland Road was the perfect destination for the first Premier League game after plans were announced for a European Super League featuring our opponents that night, Liverpool. The Leeds squad wore ‘Earn It’ t-shirts, Jurgen Klopp started crying, and Llorente scored an 87th minute equaliser before pointing to the heavens in memory of his grandad, who had passed away two months earlier.

It was a moment that provided all the authenticity, emotion and competition that the ESL wanted to eradicate, and came in a sequence of five games in which Leeds beat Man City and Spurs, and drew with Liverpool and Scum. Llorente played every minute of each game. Super League meet Super Leeds.

Worst moment

Leeds lost only once in their opening five matches of last season, with Llorente partnering Robin Koch in defence and resembling something as close as he could ever get to sanity. Then we went to Brentford, and the voices in his head returned to convince him it was a good idea to attempt a Cruyff turn on the edge of Leeds’ penalty area with three attackers around him. He did wear Cruyff’s number 14, after all.

It wasn’t a good idea.

What might have been

You can’t fuck with Chaos Theory and you can’t make it make sense. A defender straight out of Operation Mindfuck, you’ve just got to let him be Diego Llorente.

Rate the goodbye

Llorente said his goodbyes in January, posting to Instagram:

I only have words of gratitude towards Leeds and their fans. Thank you for being by my side at all times! I wish you all the best for the remainder of the season. I will cheer you up from distance!

He couldn’t cheer us up while we were getting relegated, but that’s not his fault. It didn’t sound like he was going to come back, and since returning to Roma, everyone has been pretending he isn’t technically still a Leeds player. The story on Leeds’ official website is three sentences long, while Llorente told Roma’s site:

“I’m proud to be able to remain part of the Giallorossi family. When I had the chance to come to Rome in January, I didn’t hesitate for even a second and even less so during this period of waiting.

“I’ve always known I’d do everything possible to stay, not just to remain part of such a historic club, but also to be back alongside my team-mates to fight together, with our fans getting behind us, to achieve the targets that we deserve. I’m sure we can accomplish something fantastic together.”

Maybe he’s saving one big final goodbye for when he eventually leaves on a free transfer in 2026, after spending the next three summers rejoining Roma on loan.

Where they’re going

Injuries disrupted Llorente’s start at Roma last season, which might explain why they didn’t activate the option to sign him permanently for a fee close to what Leeds paid Real Sociedad in 2020. But when he did start playing, they liked him. He appeared in eight of their final twelve Serie A fixtures and came on in the Europa League final defeat to Sevilla, but sadly didn’t get to take a penalty.

He’s not the type of defender I would expect Jose Mourinho to take a liking to, but then Roma are also about to sign Rasmus Kristensen, so what the hell do I know? Regardless, I hope Diego has a nice time. All he ever wanted was for everyone to feel as good as he feels. ⬢