Leeds United have confirmed the departure of forward Rafa Mujica, who joins Spanish club Villereal on-loan until the end of the season.

The Spaniard arrived at Elland Road last summer from Barcelona B and was a part of the Whites’ pre-season plans as they travelled to York City, making a brief cameo at Bootham Crescent before completing a loan move back to Spain with Extremadura for the first half of the season.

However, this loan didn’t quite go to plan as he failed to score in seven appearances in Spain’s Segunda division. Extremadura have been flirting with relegation all season and Mujica’s lack of goals has only been a symptom of the whole club’s toils in front of goal this season.

His loan has now been cut short so that Leeds can send him out to La Liga side Villarreal, where he will spend the rest of the season on-loan, the official website has confirmed.

Mujica will now move to the Estadio de la Cerámica to link up with prestigious names in the Spanish game such as Santi Cazorla and Gerard Moreno among others, with a chance to continue his development, before returning to Elland Road in the summer.

Mujica has only featured in the youth setup and that brief, yet somewhat impressive cameo at York at the beginning of this season.

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The Verdict

This signing was clearly one for the future and an investment that wouldn’t pay any immediate dividends for Leeds, which has seen him earn two loans in one season.

The Extremadura stint was not kind to Mujica who will have been happy to see the back of it, after not scoring a single goal and being on the end of a lot of defeats in the league.

However, his move to Villarreal is a positive step in his career to see that he has moved a step up in division and to a team that has notably brought through good Spanish youngsters in the past.

It is unclear what Leeds’ plans are for the Spaniard, but they are clearly reluctant to cut ties, given that he has shown great promise from early in his career at La Masia.