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Mass recruitment looks unlikely at Leeds United judging by Victor Orta’s Middlesbrough ‘mistake’ comments
Leeds United’s promotion to the Premier League has immediately seen a slew of transfer rumours pile up for the West Yorkshire outfit. From Said Benrhama to Edinson Cavani, it appears director of football Victor Orta could be a busy man in the weeks to come.
However, his comments from a recent suggest that Leeds fans can take a lot of these stories with a pinch of salt.
“I have analyzed a mistake I made in Middlesbrough, and I want to continue with this template,” the Spaniard told the station. “Add pieces that improve what is already there, which obviously needs to be done, but I want to keep the core of the team, which deserved it.”
Orta is of course referring to Middlesbrough’s season in the Premier League back in 2016-17. Orta was director of football at The Riverside during that time and Boro went on a big recruitment spree that summer.
Bernardo Espinosa, Viktor Fischer, Marten de Roon, Victor Valdes, Antonio Barragan, Gaston Ramirez, Brad Guzan, Fabio da Silva, Adama Traore, Calum Chambers, and Alvaro Negredo all joined the first-team in the summer.
Only a handful of those names proved a hit and Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka struggled to gel a team together. He was sacked in March and Boro finished 19th, returning straight to the Championship.
Leeds clearly need some improvements. Definitely a new centre-back and a new striker. Maybe a full-back, maybe a central midfielder. Other then that, Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa will undoubtedly be willing to back his current players to thrive in the Premier League and Orta should do much the same.
Supplement the first-team in the areas where they need some strengthening but after the mistakes made at Boro, it would be a surprise if Leeds’ transfer guru made more than five signings this summer.