Leeds United defender Diego Llorente leaves Spain squad due to injury

Summer recruit Llorente played the full 90 minutes of Thursday evening’s 0-0 draw in a friendly against Portugal in Lisbon in which he came up against Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Whites centre-back was then an unused substitute for Saturday evening’s 1-0 Nations League win at home to Switzerland which came three days before Spain’s second Nations League clash of the week against Ukraine in Kiev tomorrow night.

But the Royal Spanish Football Federation then announced on Sunday that both Llorente and international team-mate Gerard Moreno had picked up injuries which meant the duo would be leaving the squad and not flying to Kiev.

“Both players will not travel to Kiev with the National Team,” said a statement from the RSFF.

“Gerard Moreno and Diego Llorente leave the National Team after training.

“Both players could not finish the work session, suffering from muscular ailments, so they will not finally travel to Kiev with the rest of the expedition for the match against Ukraine.

“The RFEF has informed its clubs, Villarreal and Leeds United of ​​the situation.”

Llorente joined Leeds for around £18m from Real Sociedad last month but the 27-year-old had yet to make his Whites debut with the defender an unused substitute in the 1-1 draw at home to Manchester City before the international break as skipper Liam Cooper and German international Robin Koch played the full match as United’s centre-backs.

Koch is one of nine senior Whites players currently away on international duty.

Leeds are back in action a week tonight with the Premier League clash at home to Wolves.

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Thank you Laura Collins