Leeds United

Leeds United: incoming appointment removed from Boro dressing room – flashpoints

According to the Gazette Live, incoming Leeds United appointee Victor Orta was a “key figure” in unrest that developed at Middlesbrough before his departure.

When Victor Orta arrived at Boro, he came with a massive pedigree of scouting and technical knowledge, coming with what the GazetteLive called a “weapons grade contacts book.”

He had helped transform the fortunes of Sevilla when joining them in 2006, being promoted to the role of technical director and helping bring in young players from smaller domestic clubs in the Spanish leagues, as well as from abroad.

He signed for Boro in December 2015, from Russian side Zenith St Petersburg, where he brought in top names such as Brazilian World Cup star Hulk. When it first became apparent that Boro had a chance at capturing Orta, the Gazette Live said at the time that club owner Steve Gibson was “sceptical“, thinking that the Spaniard would “be bound for a Champions League club.”

17 months later and Orta is no longer at the Riverside, that hope and promise seemingly dashed and laying by the wayside. Instead it has been replaced by finger-pointing, sourness and accusation.

This is what Leeds United are supposedly getting with the upcoming appointment of Victor Orta, an appointment being widely reported as ‘imminent’.

Today’s Gazette Live says that he “was a key actor in a sorry situation” at the Riverside, being intrinsically involved according to them as “fractures and cliques emerged.” There are accusations from the article by Anthony Vickers that the expected ‘work talk’ in English was negated and that Orta “argued about tactics and selections in Spanish,” alongside a solitary attitude where he rarely spoke to players or staff.

Perhaps the biggest accusation levelled at the former Middlesbrough man is that he broke football’s Omerta code at Boro, stepping into the dressing room. Vickers says in his article “He [Orta] had to be physically removed – by Leo Percovich no less – after the Manchester United game,” something confirmed, say the Gazette Live, by “a player and another key member of the matchday mix.”

What may worry Leeds United fans is how Orta suddenly segued from scout to recruitment lynchpin and key player. Vickers goes on to say that Orta was installed as a “king-pin” and the usual system of recruitment at the Teesside club was put to one side as the Spaniard “was given authority to draw up the shopping list.”

A similar approach at Leeds United has, before, drawn much criticism from Whites supporters who, by-and-large, see the final say in player recruitment being from the head coach/manager at the club. Orta being something of a reported maverick may upset the apple cart at Elland Road, a cart that doesn’t take much to tip at the best of times.

In all, it seems that the consensus of opinion from some is that Leeds United could be signing a bit of a firebrand in Orta. Hopefully not, because what Leeds United do not need is a spark amongst the dry powder at Elland Road.

Gazette Live comments on Victor Orta

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