MOT View: Orta should pray Euro club triggers deal to sign Leeds 27y/o permanently
Laurens De Bock has been one of the biggest flops that Leeds United have had during Victor Orta’s time as director of football.
The 27-year-old left-back was signed from Club Brugge for £1.5million in January 2018 and has since made just seven appearances in all competitions.
De Bock, understandably, was deemed surplus to requirements by Marcelo Bielsa after his disastrous start to life at Elland Road and has since been sent out on loan to Oostende, Sunderland and current club ADO Den Haag.
Alan Pardew’s Den Haag signed De Bock on loan from Leeds in January after the Belgian left-back struggled in League One with Sunderland.
When De Bock arrived in the Netherlands, the Eredivisie club confirmed that they have the option to sign the left-back permanently at the end of his loan spell and Orta better pray that they take up that option based on how poorly he’s done in the last two years.
De Bock made just 10 appearances on loan at Sunderland in the first half of this season before his loan deal there was terminated.
If he cannot hold down a spot in League One then what hope does he have at a team that could be in the Premier League next season or, at the very least, gunning for promotion from the Championship?
Since joining ADO Den Haag, he has at least been getting more game-time and has started all eight league fixtures he’s been eligible to play in since moving to the Eredivisie.
Stats by WhoScored show that the Belgian has shown an improvement in Pardew’s side too with him averaging more tackles, interceptions, clearances and blocks per league game than he did at Sunderland.
However his offensive output is down with him averaging fewer shots at goal, key passes, cross and long-range passes per league outing with Den Haag.
That could be down to the fact that Sunderland are a team wanting to win promotion in League One while Den Haag have their backs against the walls in most matches as they currently sit second-from-bottom in the Dutch top-flight.
If De Bock cannot make a difference at a third-tier club in England and has only shown a marginal improvement for a relegation-threatened Eredivise club, what hope does he have at Leeds?
It is unclear how much ADO Den Haag have agreed to sign De Bock for on a permanent deal in the summer but we hope they do trigger the clause and at least allow Leeds to cut their losses on the £1.5million flop.
In other Leeds United news, Kalvin Phillips and Patrick Bamford have paid tribute to Norman Hunter.