'Over £100m': Andrea Radrizzani's Victor Orta regrets and players Leeds United should have got - YEP 18/7/23

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Andrea Radrizzani admits he is leaving Leeds United with Victor Orta regrets but that the blame for failed Whites transfers is not just down to the ex-director of football.

By Lee Sobot

Orta played a key role in bringing both promotion-winning boss Marcelo Bielsa and also Brazilian star Raphinha to the club but United’s third season back in the Premier League proved disastrous as the Whites were relegated back to the Championship.

Orta eventually parted ways with Leeds at the start of May and three of the signings made my Leeds last summer have already moved on in the shape of Marc Roca, Rasmus Kristensen and Brenden Aaronson who have all exited the scene on loan.

Leeds also broke their transfer record in the January transfer window to sign a player who only featured minimally in the relegation battle run in 21-year-old Georginio Rutter and Radrizzani has now fronted up to Whites mistakes admitting his team needed to sign more experienced players.

Speaking an in interview with Sky Sports News, outing Whites chairman Radrizzani was asked if he could understand why a lot of fans blamed Orta for what has gone wrong for the club relegated from the Premier League last term.

"Like every football director, he can make some good calls and bad calls,” said Radrizzani. "He brought in players like Raphinha and then he did other choices with less impact. I think it's part of the job.

"For sure, if I would go back, I would be more careful of a couple of things, first of all following unconditionally Victor who is very talented, probably, in our phase of the club, in only three years in the Premier League, could be dangerous. Why? Because Victor tends to focus his scouting on players that still have to show they are good enough so focus on potential next talent.

"That's why the risk that you find the right player or not is higher rather than buying a player of maybe 27/28 years old. So I think in a team like Leeds that needs to consolidate in the Premier League, if you spend over £100m in one transfer market in the summer you need to consider to have maybe one or two players that are mature and have national team experience and character to stay in the picture and I think that's what we lacked.

"I think Victor's challenge was too much, to take coaches or players that come from the Austrian league and expect them to perform in the Premier League. With all respect the gap is too big.

"But I am responsible the same because I was not somewhere else, I was here so I have to blame as well the same level as Victor and like with all the management. I think we have taken too much risk to put in a position professionals, maybe good people, good coaches good players, but maybe they needed another step intermediate before landing in the Premier League which is the most difficult league in the world."

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