Nobody in their right mind would criticise Victor Orta at Leeds United right now.
The Spanish Director of Football was responsible for the recruitment drive that has helped the Whites reclaim a Premier League spot for the first time since 2004 this past season.
And since winning promotion, Leeds have broken their transfer record in a £30 million deal for Rodrigo and other big-money switches seem to be in the pipeline.
Yep, Orta is, quite rightly, a very popular figure among fans of the Elland Road club, but he has made mistakes during his three-year stint in West Yorkshire.
And selling Bailey Peacock-Farrell for £2.5 million might haunt United for years to come.
Last night, the 23-year-old goalkeeper produced a stunning performance in helping Northern Ireland earn a point away at Romania.
If not for the former Thorp Arch graduate, it would’ve been very ugly for the Northern Irish – who played more than half the game with 10 men – but it was a reminder of Peacock-Farrell’s talent.
According to BBC Sport, Leeds picked up only £2.5 million for the young stopper and that’s looking like an absolute steal for Burnley.
On one hand, Orta was justified in offloading Peacock-Farrell, because Marcelo Bielsa’s side won promotion without him, but if the Darlington-born star is producing performances like this at the age of 23 then it’s frightening to wonder how good he could be a few years from now.
As long as they’re in the Premier League, some Leeds fans won’t care if he fetches as much as £50 million at some point in the future, but other supporters did feel that £2.5 million was too low for a player with his potential in the first place and they could – and should – question it even more after last night’s heroics.
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