Many forget that Victor Orta’s reign at Leeds United began a year before he hired Marcelo Bielsa in 2018. In that initial year, he made several questionable signings, and one of those was Jay-Roy Grot.
His first move was to bring in Thomas Christiansen as manager in the summer of 2017, while bringing in a raft of new players. Orta signed some top players like Mateusz Klich and Pontus Jansson that summer.
But he also signed Hadi Sacko, Vurnon Anita, Caleb Ekuban, Pawel Cibicki, and a raft of youngsters from European clubs, mostly in Spain. A handful worked; most of them didn’t. Grot was one who really didn’t.
He managed just one goal in 22 appearances in his first season, then spent the next two years on loan at VVV-Venlo and Vitesse. He would leave under Marcelo Bielsa on a free transfer to Osnabruck in 2021.
Jay-Roy Grot scores his first hat-trick since Leeds United exit
Grot’s career has been up and down since his Leeds exit, playing in numerous countries and continents. He played just four times for Osnabruck, leaving for Danish side Viborg in the summer of 2021.
A total of 15 goals in 50 games for Viborg saw his stock grow and Grot decided to make the surprise move to Japan, with Kashiwa. But just three goals in 29 saw Grot released at the start of the year.
He returned to Denmark, where he had success with Viborg, joining Odense. On Sunday, Grot started in what was his 21st outing for his new-ish side, and he netted a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Nordsjaelland.
Not only that, but Grot also got the assist for Odense’s opener, taking his tally to an impressive eight goals and three assists in his 21 games with Odense. Clearly, Denmark is the place for the Leeds flop.
What Victor Orta said about Grot when he first left Leeds on loan
Orta’s signings were always up and down. The heights of Raphinha, Pascal Struijk, Willy Gnonto, Gjanni Alioski, Jansson and Klich, to the lows of Ouasim Bouy, Yosuke Ideguchi and left-back Laurens De Bock.
Grot certainly falls in the latter category, but Orta always had faith. A year after his arrival, when Grot went on loan to Venlo, Orta said: “A lot of clubs have shown interest in taking Jay-Roy on loan this summer.
“We have worked hard to analyse each option to find the best solution for the player and for our club. We believe that Jay-Roy has a strong future. Regularly playing games is going to be key to his development.”
It obviously didn’t end up that way. Grot could not recover from his first-season disappointment at Leeds but at 27, the forward is now rediscovering his best form and it appears to be in the Danish Superliga.
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