Betis and Sporting Gijon are fighting to sign Real Madrid wonderkid Diego Llorente on loan this summer. The Los Blancos homegrown defender is one of the biggest talents in the youth teams and Florentino Perez wants him to leave on loan to a La Liga side in order to get minutes of play and gain experience.
The two recently promoted clubs have already contacted Real to request the 21-year-old loan. Both Betis and Sporting are trying to build a strong side in order to avoid relegation next season and Llorente would be a perfect fit for them.
The Andalusians are Florentino Perez’s favourites, as their manager Pepe Mel is a former Real Madrid player. However, Real want Llorente to be a guaranteed starter wherever he goes, and he’s less likely to earn a spot in the starting eleven at Betis.
Sporting, on the other hand, will possibly be La Liga’s club with the lowest average salary, and that will mean Llorente would have few competitors for a starting role. The Gijon’s side wage limit per player is the minimum requested by La Liga: 129.000 euros. With that money, they will hardly attract quality players and they will strongly depend on loans to build a decent squad.
The young center-back is eager to play regularly for a La Liga side, so both options would please him. Llorente made his debut with Real Madrid’s first squad in June 2013. Since then, he has only played three official games for Los Blancos.
