Diego Llorente’s stats highlight Leeds star’s outstanding return to side

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Marcelo Bielsa may have caught many off-guard when he decided to promote Diego Llorente to the starting lineup for Leeds United’s clash with Southampton on Tuesday.

Jamie Shackleton dropped out of the team due to injury. But Llorente has not played for either the first-team or under-23s since limping off during the early stages of the win at Newcastle last month.

And given the problems he has had since arriving at Elland Road, the supporters would have been forgiven for keeping their fingers crossed about Llorente.

It remains to be seen how he recovers from the game. But the fact that he got through the full 90 minutes is an incredibly encouraging sign for the Spain international.

And based on his stats from the game, the 27-year-old displayed exactly why Bielsa has seemingly not lost his faith in Llorente.

As shown by Whoscored, no Leeds player completed more passes than Llorente. He made 37 successful passes during the game, seven more than Pascal Struijk.

One of those passes, of course, proved to be pivotal in the opening goal. He cut out a number of Saints players to find Tyler Roberts, who, in turn, played in Patrick Bamford.

Admittedly, he did not have the best evening when going in for tackles. He made just one successful challenge during the evening.

But no player made more clearances than Llorente, who managed five. Similarly, he topped the charts for interceptions amongst the Leeds players.

The concerns about Llorente – who earns £22,000-a-week, according to Spotrac – since his arrival have rarely been about his quality. So one good performance is not going to silence all of his doubters.

But if he does now stay fit, his performance on Tuesday hints that Leeds could have another incredibly impressive player on their books.