Victor Orta breaks silence on Leeds United's deadline day disappointment amid Willy Gnonto label - YEP 23/9/22
Leeds United director of football Victor Orta has discussed the Whites’ failed bid to sign Marseille striker Bamba Dieng
By Joe Donnohue
Leeds’ director of football Victor Orta is no shrinking
violet and has addressed the somewhat discomfiting situation surrounding
transfer deadline day.
United missed out on the signings of Cody Gakpo and Bamba
Dieng, for vastly differing reasons, eventually expediting the arrival of
teenage forward Wilfried Gnonto from FC Zürich.
Dieng appeared on the verge of signing, especially after
club chairman and majority shareholder Andrea Radrizzani tweeted urging
supporters to get behind their new man, but the Senegalese forward never
arrived.
An eleventh hour U-turn at an airfield in the south of
France meant Leeds were left high and dry in their bid to supplement the squad
with another attacking presence.
Orta’s initial plan was to allow Gnonto additional time on
the continent where he would earn regular first-team football with Swiss
champions Zürich.
However, failure to land Gakpo or Dieng left Leeds with
little option but to bring forward Gnonto’s United arrival.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Orta has addressed the tumult of
deadline day, and is privately said to be optimistic about Gnonto’s impact at
Elland Road, despite the hurried process of welcoming the 18-year-old Italy
international to the club.
"We couldn't reach an agreement for Bamba Dieng either.
In the end we decided on Wilfried Gnonto, who I think is going to surprise,”
Orta said.
The Spaniard's prediction is a hopeful one, given Gnonto’s
lack of experience at a level similar to the Premier League.
Although, his repeated inclusion in Roberto Mancini’s Italy
squads suggests there is abundant talent within the teenager’s short and stocky
frame.