Leeds United

Leeds United Director of Football Orta lays rumours bare

Coming up under the tutelage of the legendary Monzi at Spanish club Sevilla, Victor Orta has many ties to some excellent scouting networks. However, many Leeds fans are critical of the influence of Victor Orta at Elland Road.

Fingers are pointed at the bearded Spaniard in one of two ways; these pointed digits being on quality of players brought to the club and the ‘influence’ that he is actually said to have on the direction of signings at Elland Road.

Since being brought in by Andrea Radrizzani, Orta has overseen a transfer policy that has turned in many players for the first team and restocked a flagging Under-23 Development side. The latter has seen players come in from clubs such as Real Madrid, Benfica and Barcelona whilst results are a little patchier with regard to the first team.

Samu Saiz has been an unbridled success at Elland Road since his move from SD Huesca, scoring five goals and providing five assists. Gianni Alioski has found mixed form of sorts, blowing hot-and-cold at times – still he has six goals and five assists to his name with 12 games left to play. Loanee striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga has a team-leading 10 goals and three assists since his temporary loan from SV Hamburg.

However, aside from Saiz, the latter three, and others such as keeper Felix Wiedwald and loaned-out midfielder Mateusz Klich have come in for some grief as ‘Orta buys’ in many a critical post on social media. However, the main criticism levelled at Orta is that he despotically selects the players coming in to the club – effectively shaping Leeds United in his own image.

Not so according to the man himself in a recent Q&A with Leeds United fans. When asked about the level of input that head coach Paul Heckingbottom has in transfer signings, Orta’s reply was unequivocal. Responding to the question, Orta simply stated:

We have a lot of information in this part of the year. Our scouting department is watching around 3,000 matches and it’s difficult for a head coach to watch that amount. He needs a person who provides information and my experience at Sevilla and Middlesbrough has always seen good between the director of football and the head coach. I need the coach focused on the next game and for me this is really important. In 15 years I have never signed a player without the head coaches agreement.”

So, it seems that despite being seen by many Leeds United fans as something of a Jack Horner with his thumb in many transfer pies, this appears not to be the case. Instead, in the words of Orta himself, it is definitely a collaborative process.

Credit [for quotation used] – Joe Urquhart – Yorkshire Evening Postoriginal article here

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