Leeds United took another step towards the top two places in the Championship with a convincing 3-0 win over Coventry City at Elland Road on Saturday.
The Whites have now recorded successive wins without conceding a goal, having beaten Cardiff City 2-0 in their previous match, and are one point behind Blackburn Rovers in second place.
Daniel Farke is looking to plot a promotion to the Premier League for the third time in his career, having won the division twice with Norwich City, after his side failed to get out of the second tier last season.
The West Yorkshire outfit finished third in the Championship, just behind Ipswich Town and Leicester City, and went on to lose 1-0 to Southampton in the play-off final at Wembley in May.
That was in their first year back in the league after they were relegated from the Premier League in the 2022/23 campaign, under Sam Allardyce, who had arrived in the dugout after Javi Gracia and Jesse Marsch were both dismissed.
That relegation from the top-flight came after a number of pieces of poor recruitment by former sporting director Victor Orta but things could have gone differently for him, had he signed the centre-back Leeds reportedly wanted before they landed Diego Llorente.
Diego Llorente's Leeds career
In the summer of 2020, the Whites reportedly splashed out a fee of around £18m to sign the Spanish central defender from Real Sociedad to bolster Marcelo Bielsa’s backline.
At the age of 27, Leeds ended up signing an experienced centre-back who did not have much room left to develop and grow in value during his time at Elland Road.
His first season with the club was disrupted by multiple injuries. The former LaLiga ace missed 23 matches in all competitions for club and country with groin and hamstring issues, which limited his involvement on the pitch for Bielsa.
He only made 15 appearances in the Premier League in the 2020/21 campaign, winning 57% of his defensive duels, as Leeds avoided relegation back to the Championship.
Llorente did avoid any major injury blows in his second season at Elland Road, however, as the Spanish defender went on to play 28 games in the division under Bielsa and Marsch.
Appearances
8
Sofascore rating
6.68
Dribbled past
4x
Error led to goal
2
Clean sheets
1
As you can see in the table above, the former Real Sociedad star endured a dreadful start to the 2022/23 campaign under Marsch in the first half of the season.
He made more errors that directly led to goals for the opposition than clean sheets won in his eight appearances, which led to a loan move to Roma during the second half of the season – as Leeds were relegated from the division.
Llorente spent 18 months on loan with the Italian giants before Real Betis swooped to sign him for a reported fee of £2.5m this summer – a significant loss on the £18m Leeds paid for him.
Whilst the Whites made a huge loss on the Spanish flop, things could have been so different for the club if they had landed Josko Gvardiol instead.
Leeds United's pursuit of Josko Gvardiol
Following on from the promotion from the Championship under Bielsa in the 2019/20 campaign, Orta looked to bolster the squad with a host of new signings.
The likes of Raphinha and Robin Koch arrived, alongside Llorente, but the West Yorkshire outfit were also reportedly eyeing up a deal for Gvardiol that summer.
At the start of September in 2020, Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano claimed that Leeds were close to reaching an agreement with Dinamo Zagreb to sign the versatile central defender.
The Daily Mail then went as far as to say that the club were ‘set to sign’ the 18-year-old starlet from the Croatian outfit for a fee of around £17.6m.
Unfortunately, however, the Whites were unable to get a deal over the line for the centre-back and he went on to sign for RB Leipzig in Germany a year later instead.
Gvardiol later revealed, in an interview with The Athletic, that Leeds sent representatives to map out a plan for him at Elland Road but he decided that it was not the right time for him to make the move to the Premier League, which is why he joined Leipzig instead.
Josko Gvardiol's current market value
The left-footed star, who was described as the “Haaland of defenders” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, is one that got away for Leeds because his value has soared since Orta attempted to sign him for less than £18m in 2020.
In the summer of 2023, Premier League champions Manchester City swooped to sign the versatile star for a reported fee of £77.6m, after an impressive time in Germany with Leipzig.
The central defender, who has operated in an inverted left-back role for the Cityzens, made huge progress during his spell in the Bundesliga, as shown by his rise in value from almost £18m to £77.6m.
This shows that Leeds missed out on potentially making a huge profit on Gvardiol, as they could have brought him in and helped the youngster to develop into a significant asset – as Leipzig did.
The Croatia international played 87 matches in two seasons with the German outfit. This shows that they offered the youngster plenty of opportunities to shine and thrive, which then allowed him to catch the eye of Manchester City ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
Pep Guardiola has since used him in 51 matches in all competitions since the start of last season, including in all six Premier League matches this term, which shows that the Spanish head coach trusts the 22-year-old ace.
Appearances
28
Goals
4
Pass accuracy
88%
Tackles + interceptions per game
3.0
Duel success rate
60%
As you can see in the table above, Gvardiol enjoyed an impressive debut season in the English top-flight for City, scoring four goals in 28 matches and winning the majority of his physical duels.
It is a huge shame that the defender ultimately decided not to sign for Leeds for £17.6m as he has turned into an elite defender, whilst their alternative signing – Llorente – plummeted in value during his time in England.
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