'Brave and bold' - Journalist surprised at what's just come out of Leeds

Journalist Mark Douglas has given his thoughts after comments have emerged from Leeds United’s Victor Orta about the state of the club.

Despite having left the club back in February, given the change that he had helped implement at the club as he took them from the Championship to the Premier League, the ghost of Marcelo Bielsa was always going to take some time to move away from Elland Road.

And that appears to have been confirmed by Sporting Director Orta judging by his recent comments.

Speaking at the recent Training Ground Guru’s scouting and recruitment webinar (quoted by The Independent), Orta was quoted as stating that despite leaving the club, former boss Bielsa’s policy of bringing through young players will still play a part in how the club move forward:

“I believe in a project that is one of Marcelo Bielsa’s legacies. If you believe in youth development you need to prove it. Our idea is 18 professionals and the other four players all with the under-23s because we believe in youth development and want to give responsibility to the academy.

“It’s true that it’s risky. It’s true that if you have these four players with more experience perhaps the results in the short-term will be better. But it’s true on the other side that you create a lot of bad ways.

“Leeds United is not a team that can be in the market for £150m each time. We can buy one or two [players with established] careers but then we need to build [players’] careers”.

Taking to Twitter, Douglas, Northern Football Correspondent at The Independent, claimed that his comments, given that Leeds’ place in the Premier League is far from secure, might have been something of a risk when their future is very uncertain at this moment in time:

TIF Thoughts on