Leeds United are trying to sign a midfielder who Victor Orta knows very well

Add as preferred source on Google

Leeds United will be hoping their recruitment in the next nine days is a whole lot better than the sort of signings Victor Orta made at Elland Road.

Though he can be praised for bargains such as Crysencio Summerville, Wilfried Gnonto and Pascal Struijk, there were simply too many expensive failures during his tenure as sporting director.

In fact, Leeds are still paying for the ‘sins of the past’ as Daniel Farke often says, as a result of the endless number of clauses Orta inserted into players’ contracts.

However, it would actually appear Leeds are targeting the arrival of a new midfielder whom Orta has signed before and rates very highly.

A new box-to-box midfielder is one of four players Farke is keen to add to his squad in the coming days, with a full-back and two attackers also on the agenda.

• READ MORE: Leeds United are trying to sign a player who’s already said he doesn’t want to leave this summer

Orta a big fan of Leeds target Hannibal Mejbri

Aside from a rejected bid for FC Koln’s Dejan Ljubic, links to midfielders have been few and far between this summer, but it is equally as important to bring one in as attack.

Ilia Gruev has been tasked with playing more advanced in the opening two league matches and in games where Leeds don’t see much of the ball like West Brom, it just does not work.

As such, one player who appears to be on the radar of Leeds is Manchester United’s Hannibal Mejbri, a player Leeds’ former sporting director Orta knows well.

Orta brought Hannibal on loan to Sevilla in January and in an interview with the club’s website, spoke of how long he had actually been tracking.

Incidentally, it turns out Orta was watching Hannibal play for Man United’s U18s while he was working at Elland Road, and so it is now interesting he has emerged on Leeds’ radar.

He said: “I have known him for a long time. We saw him when he played for Manchester United’s under-18s during my time in England. He has been growing, he knows how to handle things maturely.”

• READ MORE: Leeds United looking at signing one of the top five players in his league and talks could start very soon

Why did Hannibal flop at Sevilla?

It should not come as much of a surprise given Orta’s track record of January signings, but Hannibal really did not work out at Sevilla.

He played a total of just 101 minutes for the Spanish side and just a matter of days after arriving at the club, was told by manager Quique Sanchez Flores that he needed to understand what playing for Sevilla means, as per Manchester Evening News.

Hannibal was even threatened to be axed from Sevilla’s first team, though was introduced back into the fold, all be it with a very limited number of minutes.

Sevilla actually had the option-to-buy Hannibal but it became clear very quickly that would not be happening, which could now give Leeds the chance to move.