TBR View: Diego Llorente’s Spain performance may boost Leeds chances

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After losing loanee Ben White in the summer, Leeds United went out in the summer market to sign two highly-rated defenders to compete with 29-year-old captain Liam Cooper for the centre-back positions.

The Whites signed Germany international Robin Koch from Freiburg, as well as Spain international Diego Llorente from Real Sociedad.

It’s a great option to have three quality players vying for two starting positions in the heart of defence, but that always means one is unfortunately going to miss out unless there is a change of formation.

Manager Marcelo Bielsa has started the season with Cooper and new 24-year-old signing Koch, who was one of the earliest recruits in the window.

It seems unlikely that the club captain is going to be dislodged from the XI anytime soon and after a shaky start, Koch has started to find his feet in English football and is forming a partnership alongside Cooper.

But the decision to start the duo again might not be so straightforward when domestic football resumes against Wolverhampton Wanderers after the international break.

Llorente, 27, completed the full 90 minutes on Wednesday night in Spain’s goalless draw away to Portugal in an international friendly.

The ball-playing centre-back proved his quality with a confident display in the Spanish defence, where he was composed with his passing and also a solid figure in the backline.

He was part of a defence that helped keep Cristiano Ronaldo quiet for the majority of the contest and at one stage he stopped him in his tracks with a well-timed tackle after he attempted to drive into the box.

There is no doubt that Llorente is a top talent that will be desperate to make his first Leeds appearance and surely his international performance didn’t go unnoticed at Elland Road.

His showing has just given Bielsa a tough headache going into the next match and it will be intriguing to see if he’s tempted to disrupt the centre-back combination.