West Ham have spoken with Victor Orta as they look to appoint a director of football, but the former Leeds United man is seen as an unlikely option for the Hammers.
That is according to a report from the Guardian, which suggests that Victor Orta has been considered for a swift return to the Premier League.
Of course, Victor Orta’s departure from Elland Road was announced earlier this month in the wake of the shambolic defeat down at Bournemouth. The Spaniard’s exit was confirmed just before Javi Gracia followed him out of the Elland Road door.
West Ham hold talks with Victor Orta after Leeds exit
Interestingly, that appears to have alerted our next opponents, West Ham. According to the Guardian, the Hammers have spoken to Orta about potentially becoming director of football at the London Stadium.
However, the report adds that an appointment is now seen as unlikely.
It would be a surprise to see Orta land himself a job with another Premier League club so soon after his departure from Leeds.
He did do some excellent work with the Whites, most notably putting Marcelo Bielsa forward as a candidate for the head coach role in 2018. And it is probably no surprise to see West Ham are admirers given that they have been linked with a number of Leeds players in recent years.
He was also popular behind the scenes. Ben Parker recently suggested that there were plenty of tears at Elland Road when Orta’s departure was announced.
But his record in the transfer market was mixed at best. For every Raphinha, there seemed to be four or five really underwhelming deals. And it did seem that Orta was sometimes more bothered about the calibre of the club he was signing players from – rather than the quality of the players themselves.
Some of his actions also did not endear him to the supporters.
It makes sense that a club would look into holding talks with Orta while he is available. But you do get the feeling that West Ham have made the right call if they have decided to look elsewhere.