Alfredo Ortuno has been tipped to join Championship giants Leeds United – but would be immediately loaned out to sister club Cultural Leonesa.
Reports in Diario de Leon that Leeds United are targeting a January move for free-agent striker Alfredo Ortuno are likely to elicit quite a mixed response from supporters.
On one hand, some of Victor Orta’s bargain signings have worked wonderfully and, like talisman Samu Saiz, Ortuno would be arriving at Elland Road from the Spanish second tier. On the other, he is hardly the proven Championship goalscorer the fans have been clamouring for.
Either way, it appears that Leeds would have to wait to see their latest potential new signing in action. Because the report adds that the 26-year-old would not move to West Yorkshire straight away, instead being loaned to Leeds’ sister club Cultural Leonesa in the Spanish second tier.
Leonesa were handed Ouasim Bouy from Leeds in the summer and, according to Diario de Leon, are set to land Yosuke Ideguchi on loan too with the Japanese international midfielder lacking the required work permit to play in England.
But instead of handing Ortuno over to Leonesa, are Leeds missing a trick not making him an immediate member of their first team squad?
Last season, Ortuno enjoyed the most prolific campaign of his career, scoring 17 times on loan at second tier Cadiz from Las Palmas. And before you point out that the Segunda division is hardly proof that he will cut it in England, it must be remembered that Saiz arrived at Leeds after a fine season one tier below La Liga.
And Leeds could do with an in-form striker like Ortuno. Pierre-Michel Lasogga’s goals have dried up a little while fellow summer signings Caleb Ekuban, Pawel Cibicki and Jay-Roy Grot haven’t scored one between them.
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