Leeds United announced earlier on Tuesday that Victor Orta had left Elland Road as plenty of change takes place in Yorkshire.
Javi Gracia has also been replaced by Sam Allardyce as Leeds United make one final throw of the dice in a desperate attempt to preserve their Premier League status.
So, with Orta now gone from his role as Director of Football at Elland Road, let’s take a look at his three worst signings for Leeds United…
Victor Orta’s worst signings for Leeds United
Jean-Kevin Augustin
This is Orta‘s worst move for Leeds by some distance.
The Spaniard signed Jean-Kevin Augustin in January 2020 to boost the club’s promotion push.
Leeds agreed to sign the Frenchman on a permanent basis for £18m if promotion was secured, and it eventually was.
However, after Augustin made just three appearances for Leeds in the second half of that 2019/20 campaign, Orta tried to wriggle out of the agreement by claiming that promotion had technically been secured after the agreed date, as the season was disrupted by the global pandemic.
Unsurprisingly, the striker took Leeds to court, and FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber eventually ruled narrowly in his favour, meaning Leeds had to pay £24.5m in compensation and also a £15.5m fee to RB Leipzig as a settlement for the £18m transfer fee.
So, Leeds ended up paying £40m for three appearances, zero goals and zero assists – a truly awful bit of business.
Daniel James
It is hard to narrow it down to just three, as Orta negotiated some terrible deals for Leeds.
Nevertheless, the £25m signing of Dan James has to be right up there.
Of course, a move for the Welshman was heavily pushed for by Marcelo Bielsa.
However, it was Orta who signed off on the deal, and James went on to score just four goals in 40 appearances before he was loaned out to Fulham.
Of course, the 25-year-old could still turn his Leeds career around, but he has cost Leeds £6.5m per goal as things stand, so the transfer has to go down as a failure.
Georginio Rutter
It almost feels harsh to put Georginio Rutter on this list, and it is admittedly a bit premature seeing as the 21-year-old has only recently arrived at Leeds.
However – in the current situation – it is arguably Orta’s most confusing decision.
A club-record fee of £35.5m was spent on Rutter in January as Leeds prepared themselves for a relegation scrap, at a time where midfield or defensive reinforcements would have made more sense than an inexperienced attacker.
Bizarrely, the Frenchman has made just one Premier League start since his arrival – he has even been left on the bench across the last three games against Fulham, Leicester and Bournemouth.
It was a strange deal, and it proved to be one of the final nails in Orta’s coffin.
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