'It stinks of Victor Orta' - Journalist left worried after Leeds transfer news

Journalist Conor McGilligan has claimed Leeds United’s failed move to sign Eddie Nketiah was led by Victor Orta.

Sky Sports recently reported that the Whites are looking to sign a new striker this summer and were actually hoping to pull off a deal for the Arsenal man.

Nketiah, however, now looks poised to stay with the Gunners and renew his contract that was set to expire in the summer after being offered a new long-term deal.

Reacting to this information on the One Leeds Fan Channel, McGilligan expressed his concern over the idea of Orta trying to sign a player that might not suit manager Jesse Marsch.

He explained: ‘It stinks of Victor Orta, this. It’s like, ‘oh, we’ve had him before. Let’s go and get him again. I beat 18 clubs to his signature initially. So let’s go in for him again’.

“I just want there to be a bit of synergy between the director of football and Jesse Marsch, because it seems a lot of the Red Bull network links are obviously via Jesse Marsch, but it seems like an Eddie Nketiah link would literally just be Victor Orta.

“So there needs to be a little bit of cohesion between those two, a bit of a partnership, which there never really was with [Marcelo] Bielsa, I thought.”

TIF Thoughts on Victor Orta and Leeds…

Back in 2019 when Nketiah joined Leeds on loan, Orta was credited by The Athletic for convincing the club and player to choose their project ahead of offers from teams in Italy, Germany, France and elsewhere.

The player is clearly rated by the director of football, but as McGilligan points out, that doesn’t mean Marsch would want him. Up to this point, the American seems to be chasing players who have played for a Red Bull-affiliated team.

This would explain why they signed Brenden Aaronson from