Leeds United’s squad returned for day one of pre-season training today.
The Whites have had a somewhat longer break than the rest of the Championship due to their participation in the play-off final, but they arrived to Thorp Arch on Tuesday for the first day of testing.
All of the big stars, like Crysencio Summerville and Willy Gnonto, were back in Yorkshire, despite continuous speculation over their futures at the club.
Summerville was linked with a move to PSG earlier today and, along with Gnonto and Illan Meslier, was one of three players Leeds were willing to sell before Archie Gray moved to Tottenham.
Diego Llorente not spotted back in Leeds’ pre-season video.
Leeds have released a 10-minute video on YouTube of day one of pre-season, and there weren’t many notable exceptions.
Brenden Aaronson, Max Wober, and Rasmus Kristensen were all absent due to commitments to important international tournaments.
Aaronson and Kristensen will return in the coming weeks after being knocked out, though the latter’s future remains unclear. Wober, meanwhile, is still at Euro 2024 with Austria.
Following the departures of Jack Harrison and Marc Roca last week, Diego Llorente was the only returning loanee with a chance of being back on day one.
There was always a chance Llorente would be advised to avoid Thorp Arch amid rising speculation about a move, and it appears Daniel Farke has told him to do just that.
While Wober and Kristensen may return, his absence today suggests that the 30-year-old will not be able to return to Leeds, despite his lack of a loan clause.
How far along is Llorente’s move to Betis?
It appeared that Llorente would return to AS Roma for a third time, but Fabrizio Romano clarified on Saturday that this would not be the case.
Instead, a move to Betis currently appears to be the most likely scenario, with the club eager to buy him permanently from Leeds and reunite him with Roca.
The most recent word on his future, which came out on Sunday, stated that a deal to Betis is almost complete for £5 million, and his apparent absence on day one would support this.
