This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
Marcelo Bielsa may be the mastermind behind the recent good fortunes at Leeds United, but he isn’t the man behind the transfers.
Everyone knows by now that Victor Orta is the man that has the final say on any incomings and outgoings at Elland Road.
That isn’t to say that Bielsa has no say on transfers. He personally highlighted the likes of Jack Harrison and Ben White as transfer targets – extensively watching footage of the defender during his time out on loan at Newport and Peterborough.
Orta even watched White for two years before bringing him to west Yorkshire as well.
However, the Argentine doesn’t greenlight every transfer, and sometimes it’s clear to see when he and Orta have conflicting ideas.
This has never been more evident than the signing of Helder Costa, someone that was made their number one target.
The Portuguese winger couldn’t have arrived at Elland Road with any more hype. He was a proven Championship player after ripping the league up with Wolves a few years back, registering 15 goals in two seasons and on top of that, he will cost Leeds £15m – their biggest transfer outlay since signing Rio Ferdinand in 2000.
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Indeed, this was Leeds’ second-biggest signing ever, eclipsing the £12m paid for Robbie Keane and the £11m paid for Robbie Fowler.
This was it, Costa was the man to fire Leeds into the automatic promotion places, or at least that’s what Orta may have thought.
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Bielsa clearly wasn’t impressed by Costa as he didn’t start him in any of Leeds’ first eight games. In fact, he was only handed a start after Pablo Hernandez picked up an injury against Derby.
Since that point, he’s started every game, but he hasn’t impressed – failing to score up until this point and only assisting once since the start of the campaign.
The 64-year-old has stated that he doesn’t work in his system as he doesn’t have the same abilities as Hernandez.
It’s clear that this was an Orta signing rather than a Bielsa one, do you really think a man as meticulous as the Argentine, someone who watched every minute of a defender’s career before signing him, would happily lay out £15m for a player who doesn’t fit his system?
Given their struggles with profit and sustainability, you’d think not.
The signing of Costa has shown there is an element of dangers to having a director of football, and perhaps it’s a model that needs looking at again in the near future.
After all, Leeds could end up paying a colossal fee for someone who has underperformed and isn’t up to the required standards of the manager.