Leeds United have today announced the appointment of former Middlesbrough employee Victor Orta, the Spaniard joining the Whites as Director of Football.
However, this appointment has also had an effect elsewhere, with changing odds on who will sign as manager at Elland Road with Sky Bet reporting changing manager odds amongst the top two favoured for the Elland Road hotseat.
The chasing pack was close, but a slight gap was created when former Barcelona and Real Madrid player Michael Laudrup pulled away, the former Danish attacking midfielder now standing at odds of 8/1 for the Elland Road job.
That still put him a distance behind Karanka and Ranieri, whose odds earlier today could have been split only by a cigarette paper. However, the appointment by Leeds United of Victor Orta has definitely had an effect on the odds being offered by Sky Bet for the next man to occupy the Leeds United hotseat.
Claudio Ranieri, whose odds before the appointment were a solid 2/1, has now slipped slightly to odds of 9/4. But the real movement has been with regard to former Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka, who started today with quite shallow odds of 11/10.
Orta’s appointment to Director of Football at Elland Road, an appointment many have said will herald the coming of a new manager, has seen Karanka’s odds shift to 8/11 on – the Basque-born former Real Madrid central defender now a clear favourite for the Elland Road manager’s role.
Karanka was manager at the Riverside when Orta was employed there in December 2015, meaning that there is already a working relationship established between the two – something that the club can build on. The moving odds could very well be a sign that the Whites are getting ready to appoint.
