Being involved in a Team of the Season is a massive achievement for any player, especially in the Premier League. Although when that team is the top flight’s ‘Ineffective XI’, it doesn’t quite hold the same value, or any value at all for that matter.
That is unfortunately the team Diego Llorente has found himself included in after a campaign that – other than the final day – won’t live long in the memory of Leeds United supporters. He really struggled to build on an impressive, albeit injury-disrupted, debut campaign and will have fallen out of many fans’ best Whites XI.
To make matters worse for the eight-time Spain international, he finds himself in the heart of WhoScored.com’s stats-based Premier League Ineffective XI defence. The statistic they have justified his inclusion with is his aerial duel success rate which was just 43.9%, the lowest of any centre-back in the division.
Read more: Leeds United 'rivalling Newcastle United' in battle to sign Burnley defender
There was actually some praise for Llorente in the description that was paired with his involvement in the XI but it still won’t have softened the blow. It read: “Leeds beat the drop on the final day of the campaign after a 2-1 win at Brentford, with their lack of defensive resolve a primary reason for their lowly finish. The Whites shipped 79 league goals this season, the second most, but they'd have been all the more solid were Diego Llorente fit for the duration of the campaign.
“The goals conceded per game return dropped from 3.0 to 1.75 when he started, yet opponents had great joy in attacking Leeds in the air when the Spaniard featured. Llorente's aerial success rate of 43.9% was the lowest of centre-backs to partner [Daniel] Amartey at the back.”
That points-per-game stat is very similar to how it looked at the end of the 2020/21 season as he shored up the defence whenever he was involved. Although, the aerial duel statistic goes some way to explaining why Leeds struggled so badly defending set pieces.
Only Everton and Leicester conceded more goals from dead balls in the Premier League this season and Jesse Marsch will be keen to get some significant work done on that over the summer. Llorente will also be desperate to ensure he isn’t the same position this time next year as a defender who stands at six-foot-one.
The full ‘Ineffective XI’ was as follows: Foster (Watford), Canos (Brentford), Amartey (Leicester), Llorente (Leeds), Perraud (Southampton); Rashica (Norwich), Cork (Burnley), Pogba (Manchester United), McNeil (Burnley); Sargent (Norwich), Benteke (Crystal Palace).
