Having helped Leeds United to promotion, things quickly soured for Victor Orta as the Sporting Director at Elland Road.
Angus Kinnear fired a recent dig at Orta after he recently joined Everton from Leeds United. They worked together for many years, with Orta being hired from Middlesbrough back in 2017.
Reports in Spain recently stated Orta is set to be sacked after Sevilla just about avoided relegation. They beat UD Las Palmas three games ago to secure their place, with 2-0 and 4-2 defeats to Real Madrid and Villarreal to end their campaign.
It means they finished 17th and just one point and place above CD Leganes. Ironically, that means he matched the position in the league of his final full season at Leeds, having beaten Brentford 2-1 to stay up by the skin of their teeth in 2022.
Pressure mounts on former Leeds director Victor Orta at Sevilla
Sevilla have won the UEFA Cup twice and the Europa League five times, meaning they have won the trophy seven of the last 19 times. Their demise has been desperate since Orta joined the La Liga outfit.
He moved to Sevilla in the summer of 2023, having jumped a sinking ship in Leeds in April of that year. That came following a heavy 4-1 defeat at Bournemouth, but Sevilla have fallen far from their usual European stature.
Estadio Deportivo, the club’s local sports newspaper, reports there’s now ‘chaos’ around the former Leeds chief. That’s because the club has decided they want him to leave, but that nobody has told him yet.
Explaining the information via sources at the club, they stated: “Confidence in Victor Orta’s work has been completely lost and the intention is for him not to continue.
“But the truth is that, when it comes down to it, no one has directly communicated to the Madrid sporting director that his time at Nervion has come to an end.”
The problem is that one of the issues is that Orta still has a year left on his contract. If they sacked him, rather him walking, they’d have to pay compensation.
Orta left Leeds United just before their relegation from the Premier League was confirmed in 2023 and after Sevilla achieved a fourth-placed finish in La Liga for three consecutive seasons.
Since he came in, Sevilla have failed to get into the top half. This season, they were embroiled in a genuine relegation scrap. They will hope he walks, but there seems to be little evidence to suggest that he will.
Victor Orta’s mixed signings at Leeds United
Leeds themselves are now in limbo somewhat, with the 49ers targeting Premier League players as new signings but with leagues only just wrapping up this week to end 2024/25.
One player that should be on the radar is someone Orta brought to Sevilla. Leeds should sign Dodi Lukebakio from Orta and Sevilla to pile on the misery to both the club and former figure.
Leeds made shrewd acquisitions on a number of occasions with Orta’s help, and Lukebakio could be the perfect way to start this window. However, they have to avoid many of Orta’s latter additions.
The likes of Pascal Struijk, Mateo Joseph, Crysencio Summerville, Willy Gnonto were signed by Orta. He also made some unbelievable value for money signings via the likes of Raphinha, Illan Meslier at £5 million, Patrick Bamford, Ben White on loan, and more.
However, he was responsible for big overspends on Brenden Aaronson and Georginio Rutter, as well as disappointing or downright bad signings like Rasmus Kristensen.
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