By George Overhill

7th Mar, 2023 | 3:10pm

Victor Orta calculated risks allow for Leeds United fire sale to cushion Premier League relegation

There will be no “rough landing” if Leeds United are relegated to the Championship because signings by Victor Orta mean there are plenty of saleable assets, according to i News.

The Whites have added 10 players in the past two transfer windows, with only Joel Robles not costing a fee and Weston McKennie’s loan depending on Premier League survival to become permanent.

Although the summer haul was almost entirely covered by the sales of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips, January saw big money shelled out for club-record signing Georginio Rutter, in addition to Max Wober, McKennie and Diogo Monteiro, but the Elland Road sporting director believes the club has had to take “calculated risks”.

And if the club fail to secure top flight safety before the end of the season the squad is deemed to be in a strong position to avoid immediate financial oblivion.

The i News report states: “For his part Orta believes Leeds have to take calculated risks and the squad certainly has enough saleable assets to ensure there would be no rough landing in the second tier.”

Uneven

The Whites remain in a relegation battle a week into March, which is not the position that any side that has brought in over £130million of permanent signings expect to be in.

There should be plenty of quality in this squad to survive in the top flight, and while no side is truly too big or too good to go down the performances from this set of players should have been better.

It is hard not to look towards the managerial situation as the cause, with Jesse Marsch apparently forever on the brink of cracking the code, and the board signing players that appeared to be geared specifically towards the American.

Orta was at the head of that backing, and rumblings of disagreements behind the scenes once the manager was sacked probably explain why the way things have gone at manager have made little sense.

He must have been overruled in the end, either by Andrea Radrizzani or the 49ers Enterprises, or a combination of both, for Marsch to suddenly dismissed a week after the close of the January transfer window.

It seemed like a totally illogical point to fire him, having backed him through poor form, the World Cup break, and the window.

Wasting three games while failing to secure a replacement removed any positivity or momentum the January arrivals might have provided, and Javi Gracia has been left playing catch-up after having three games in eight days immediately after his work permit was finally secured.

Clearly the likes of Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra, Brenden Aaronson, Rutter and Wober, as well as Illan Meslier, could be sold for hefty amounts if the Whites don’t escape the drop, but where that would leave the club towards returning is another matter.

In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has dropped an update on a long-awaited new contract for one of the first-team stars.

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