Diego Llorente will be hoping to get his Leeds United career back on track after he made a goalscoring return to action with Mark Jackson's under-23s on Monday afternoon.
The Spain international got 45 minutes of football under his belt in the 1-0 win over Stoke City at Thorp Arch in what was just the second time he has been able to pull on a Leeds United shirt since his summer arrival.
Leeds secured a £18million deal for the 27-year-old in the summer, but a groin injury picked up on international duty meant that he had to wait until December to make his Whites debut, when he came off the bench for Robin Koch in the opening stages of Leeds' 3-1 defeat at Chelsea.
Another set-back followed with Marcelo Bielsa being cautious over his return. Llorente featured on the bench for the first-team's defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday before he was named in the starting XI for Monday's under-23s match against the Potters.
An impressive 45 minute run-out saw him head home the only goal of the match on 28 minutes when he popped up at the back post to nod in a Kalvin Phillips cross.
With Koch still sidelined, Llorente now has the opportunity to firmly establish himself in Bielsa's starting XI.
Given his limited minutes in a Leeds shirt, supporters are yet to really get a proper look at what Llorente can do, but his under-23s showing naturally got tongues wagging.
Prior to his arrival in West Yorkshire, experts on the Sociedad beat underlined how confident Llorente is in his own ability, almost to a fault when it comes to mistakes in his play.
The combined pressure cooker of the Premier League and Elland Road will turn the screw on the 27-year-old, but interviews from the past year in Spain illustrate how thick his skin is.
The initial assumption about Llorente was that he would compete, largely, with Koch for the right-sided role, but it seems he has played extensively on the left for Sociedad in the last two years.
Speaking to Marca in November 2019, Llorente said: "Last year I had to play as a left-handed centre-back in several games but, as it was new, there was not much talk.
“Now, as it is becoming more common, there is more talk, but I take it naturally, trying to catch the automatisms, which are not the same as in the central right.
“It does not scare me, nor does it turn me back.”
Like many managers in the modern game at an elite level, Bielsa demands his defenders play out from the back, often under intense scrutiny from opposition strikers.
Risks must be taken, but those demands from Bielsa will be nothing new for Llorente. Taking risks is just his day job.
Addressing public criticism in that same Marca piece, Llorente said: "I don't care what is being talked about outside, I will continue doing what the coach asks me, which is to get the ball from behind.
“What happens is my concept and that of some people of taking risks may be different.
“What for them is risking for me can be the day-to-day. Risking for me is a very committed assignment, not giving a pass and having a goal the minute.
“In any case, I am working to show my full potential as here at the end of the season, my challenge is to make it known I have been at my best level playing as a left centre-back.”
Being able to play on the left and right side of central defence has been a long-term goal of Llorente’s.
“When a centre-back can play on the right and left profiles, it gives you a value that other centre-backs don't have, because some have a profile that you don't get them from,” he said.
“My goal is that at the end of the league there is talk that I can play on the right and on the left.”
Hopefully Llorente will now get the chance to put these desires in action.
