Former Leeds United director Victor Orta admits that he considered ex-Roma, Porto and now Lille boss Paulo Fonseca to replace Marcelo Bielsa during their time in the Premier League.
Oh, what could have been.
It’s certainly not difficult to imagine that a man with Paulo Fonseca’s CV would have done a damn sight more to build upon the foundations a bonafide modern-day legend laid down at Elland Road, the Argentine’s eventual successor Jesse Marsch taking a wrecking ball to the house that Bielsa built and turning the kingdom into rubble in no time at all.
Leeds United held Paulo Fonseca talks
Speaking to Tuttomercatoweb, Orta – who played a key role in the decision to hire Marsch a year-and-a-half ago – admits that he held talks with Fonseca about potentially taking over at Elland Road.
“True,” Orta explains. “And it struck me a lot, on a human level, there was an exchange of important emotions. A productive conversation. But it was only an hour and a half. You can’t get to know a person like that in a short time.”
In further quotes provided by Record, Orta adds; “I looked for Paulo Fonseca to replace Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds.
“As well as (Fonseca’s) natural ability and leadership, there’s also the emotional element.”
“We didn’t talk much about the project itself,” Fonseca himself adds. “It was a quick meeting. (Orta) talked a lot about the club, the infrastructure, the culture of the club and the city. It was more about that.”
Doing ‘extraordinary’ work in Ligue 1
You can add Leeds United, then, to the array of Premier League clubs who looked at – and eventually did not hand the reigns to, for whatever reason – Paulo Fonseca. Talks with Tottenham Hotspur collapsed in 2021. The 50-year-old Iberian, meanwhile, admitted that he had discussions with Newcastle United before Eddie Howe got the job (Il Romanista).
Few at St James’ Park will have any regrets about that decision, Howe turning a perennial relegation candidate into a Champions League outfit in the blink of an eye. You certainly cannot say the same about Leeds, however, Bielsa’s sacking and Marsch’s arrival paving the way for a return to the Championship.
Fonseca, meanwhile, is now at Lille in France, looking to take his tally of silverware into double figures. Lille are currently fourth in Ligue 1, the legendary Thierry Henry hailing the ‘extraordinary’ job Fonseca has done at Les Dogues.
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