MOT View: Orta has pulled wool over eyes of Leeds fans – and it’s been a transfer masterstroke
The jury was out in the early days of Victor Orta’s reign as director of football at Leeds United.
A scattergun approach to transfers meant he got as many wrong as he did right, with Leeds still struggling to move on players like Jay-Roy Grot.
However, since Marcelo Bielsa arrived his record has been getting better and better – and this window has been the best for Leeds in a long time.
Leeds almost hit the £100m mark in spending and that’s not a sum they can afford to waste.
But it’s not the quality of the transfers that have impressed us most this summer. It’s Orta’s obfuscation.
At the start of the window, it was said that Leeds were looking to bring in the best of the Championship, with players such as Said Benrahma and Ollie Watkins linked.
Instead, Orta has signed Spain’s number nine (Rodrigo), a Germany international (Robin Koch), another Spain international (Diego Llorente) and Brazilian winger Raphinha.
Leeds’ summer business
- Helder Costa Wolves (£16m)
- Illan Meslier Lorient (£5m)
- Jack Harrison Manchester City (Loan)
- Joe Gelhardt Wigan (£1m)
- Cody Drameh Fulham (£800,000)
- Charlie Allen Linfield (undisclosed)
- Sam Greenwood Arsenal (undisclosed)
- Rodrigo Valencia (£26m)
- Robin Koch Freiburg (£13m)
- Crysencio Summerville Feyenoord (£1.3m)
- Diego Llorente Real Sociedad (£18m)
- Raphinha Rennes (£17m)
What’s more, earlier in the window YEP journalist Graham Smyth claimed that Leeds threw everyone off the scent of Bayern Munich midfielder Michael Cuisance by using the media fascination with a high-profile story for Rodrigo De Paul.
While Leeds fans were getting excited, and Rodrigo De Paul was linking posts linking him to Elland Road, Orta was quietly sealing a deal for Cuisance.
The deal for Cusiance fell through but that was Leeds’ choice.
We feel for De Paul. It seems he wanted to come to Leeds and some quarters seemed to be telling him it would happen.
However, it’s been an absolutely fantastic window for Leeds, who now have real Premier League-quality depth in their squad.
It’s been a challenging time in football and the summer transfer window has been tough for a lot of clubs. Leeds seem to have come out of it smelling of (Yorkshire) roses.
In other Leeds United news, ‘It’s too late now’ – Club chief claims midfielder Leeds want to sign is not going anywhere