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On the heels of yet another abject loss to Aston Villa, it’s time to pay attention to some rumours about the status of the Leeds United Director of Football, Victor Orta.
Orta has been rumoured to be a candidate for the Director job at Deportivo La Coruña for a little while now, and a recent update from Spain seems to confirm that.
Según @ondadeporcoruna ya acabó el cásting para Director Deportivo. Según ha podido saber Onda Cero, la pole de candidatos la forman: Carmelo del Pozo, Luis Helguera y Víctor Orta. pic.twitter.com/a1pwYFbRnD
— DEPOR SEMPRE (@DEPORSEMPRE1) April 13, 2018
Onda Cero Radio reported (link in Spanish) Victor Orta is one of three finalists for the job of Director at Deportivo. From the story:
Mientras que en el Dépor ya acabó el cásting para Director Deportivo. Según ha podido saber Onda Cero, la pole de candidatos la forman: Carmelo del Pozo, Helguera y Víctor Orta.
Which translates as “Meanwhile at Depor the search for the Sporting Director has finished. According to what Onda Cera has been able to learn, the leading candidates are: Carmelo del Pozo, Helguera, and Victor Orta.”
Yes. Depor contacted Orta in March to check on his availability and situation at Leeds. Purely informal talks and nothing advanced.
— David Cartlidge (@davidjaca) April 11, 2018
Multiple reports over the past few days have indicated that there has been interest from Deportivo, but so far the talks haven’t been serious. However, that may change with the way Leeds have been headed in the table since Christmas. Deportivo are eight points from safety in La Liga with seven games to go this season after avoiding relegation last season.
Orta still has a pretty good reputation in Spain after his time at Sevilla. He left Elche CF, but that had more to do with financial problems at the club than it did with anything involving his role as Director of Football. Orta doesn’t have the greatest record of signing players in England, but he’s brought in a number of decent Spanish players to Leeds and some of the youth players he’s signed for the Academy have been good. For example one of his signings, Alex Machuca, scored a brace today to lead the 10-man Leeds U23s to a 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Queens Park Rangers.
However, the vast majority of first team players that have joined Leeds quite frankly haven’t been good enough. Maybe going back to Spain would be best for both Orta and Leeds.