'A ball-playing centre-back, similar in style to John Stones' - why Leeds United want Real Sociedad man Diego Llorente

A deal in the region of £20m for the Spanish international centre-half is progressing and Leeds would like to have their man in by the weekend, although there's no suggestion he would walk straight into the squad to face Sheffield United.

His arrival would provide cover and competition for Robin Koch and give Bielsa four candidates for the centre-half positions. Captain Liam Cooper is the first choice left-sided central defender, with youngster Pascal Struijk acting as back up. Leeds did try to sign Ben White on a permanent basis from Brighton his summer and were willing to spend around £30m to make it happen, but when the Seagulls made it clear there was no deal to be done and Koch arrived from SC Freiburg for £12m, it gave Victor Orta more money to play with and the option to sign another senior defender.

Bielsa has gone to a three-at-the-back system on occasion, with Kalvin Phillips dropping into the back line, but the recently-capped England midfielder could retain his position if Bielsa had Cooper, Llorente and Koch at his disposal.

Llorente, 27, joined Real Sociedad three years ago and has two years left on his current deal. Like Koch, he has the versatility to play further forward.

According to Dan Altman, founder of smarterscout, the former Real Madrid defender has a profile with similarities to Manchester City men John Stones and Nicolás Otamendi.

"Diego Llorente was a bargain for Real Sociedad, coming from Real Madrid for just €7m in 2017," said Altman.

"He's a very good tackler and overall defender at a Premier League standard. He's a ball-playing centre back who can play either side, passing or taking the ball forward himself. His ball retention is excellent despite being mediocre in one-on-ones when he's in possession.

"He's great in the air on dead balls, but he struggles a bit in open play. In style, he's quite similar to the Manchester City centre backs, John Stones on the right or Nicolás Otamendi on the left."

Judged at Premier League standard on the smarterscout platform, Llorente had a similar output to Cooper at left centre-back last season, but with more of a ball-playing style.

Llorente was capable of getting forward to look for passing lanes, but he was not very active in the opposition penalty area," added Altman.

Leeds still have other business to do in this transfer window. They're keen to add an attacking midfielder and have been heavily linked with Udinese's Rodrigo De Paul but the two clubs are reportedly some distance apart on a transfer fee for that deal and Leeds are considering a number of different options.