MOT View: Price tags on two players prove Orta set to do brilliant business for Leeds
Victor Orta knows that whatever else he does at Leeds United, he’ll be judged on the quality of players that he brings in.
His hit rate in the early days wasn’t great. Anyone remember Felix Wiedwald, Pawel Cibicki and Jay-Roy Grot?
However, since Marcelo Bielsa arrived things have got a lot better.
That’s no coincidence and Orta is definitely benefitting directly and indirectly from the arrival of Bielsa. Even without his suggestions, better players will want to join Leeds for the chance to play under the maverick manager.
January is going to be a huge month and Orta may live or die on the striker he brings in and whether that player can help fire Leeds to promotion or not.
But, he has already put Leeds in line for two amazing deals.
The Athletic has reported that Leeds have an option to make Jack Harrison’s transfer permanent for £8m. That’s less than we were expecting.
It’s tough to estimate a value on a developing player like Harrison but we’d put him in the same bracket as Helder Costa at the moment – in fact he’s playing better – and Costa is going to cost Leeds £15m in the summer.
£8m is a bargain. The report claims it could be contingent on Leeds getting promoted but it also says some at Leeds want to buy Harrison anyway.
That makes a lot of sense as we could surely sell him on for more than that anyway.
Illan Meslier is the other player who Leeds have an option to buy on at the end of the season.
The Athletic says he is set to cost £4.5m and after watching him against Arsenal on Monday we’ve convinced he represents a bargain too.
He might be young but he looks a real prospect and Monaco offered £10m for him last year.
Getting good players through the door is one thing, paying less than the market value for them is amazing business and Orta deserves a lot of credit for his recent business. We think both of these players will be Premier League regulars from next season on.
In turn, Orta probably owes more than a debt of gratitude to Bielsa. But that’s another story and one that knowing how humble our manager is, Bielsa would prefer to be left untold.
In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay: This is what I’ve heard behind the scenes at Leeds about Che Adams transfer