Head coach Paul Heckingbottom to have final word on all new Leeds United signings, insists Victor Orta

PAUL HECKINGBOTTOM will be given the final say on all signings made by Leeds United, according to the club's director of football Victor Orta.
Leeds United head coach Paul Heckingbottom chats to Victor Orta at Bramall Lane earlier this month.
 Picture: Jonathan GawthorpeLeeds United head coach Paul Heckingbottom chats to Victor Orta at Bramall Lane earlier this month.
 Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe
Leeds United head coach Paul Heckingbottom chats to Victor Orta at Bramall Lane earlier this month. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe
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Orta promised that Heckingbottom would have “the power to say yes or no” to targets lined up by Leeds amid scrutiny of the club’s performance in the transfer market this season.

Orta’s involvement has attracted close attention after United owner Andrea Radrizzani handed the Spaniard the director of football position and control of their recruitment department last summer.

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Middlesbrough had previously employed Orta, an ex-Sporting Lisbon and Elche scout, as their head of recruitment but his time at The Riverside ended in May amid criticism of his performance and his influence on the squad.

Orta led the signing of 14 first-team players in his first transfer window at Elland Road and a further £7m was spent in January on Adam Forshaw, Tyler Roberts and Laurens De Bock.

United, however, are nine points and six league places worse off than they were in the Championship at the same stage of last season and their bid to make the play-offs has been threatened by a poor run since Christmas.

That downturn in results led to the sacking of former head coach Thomas Christiansen and the appointment of Heckingbottom from Barnsley on February 6.

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Orta received the firm backing of Radrizzani earlier this month and is continuing to head up Leeds’ scouting strategy but insisted Heckingbottom would have authority to veto any proposed deals this summer.

“In the end, it’s the same issue around the position of the director of football,” Orta said in a question-and-answer session staged by Leeds this week. “In my 15 years of experience I never signed a player without the okay of the head coach. Never.

“In this instance it’s the same. Paul Heckingbottom has all the power to say yes or no to the players we sign.”

Orta, however, said it was unrealistic to expect Heckingbottom to focus heavily on scouting amid the demands of the Championship term. Heckingbottom himself bemoaned the absence of specific recruitment staff to support him at Barnsley.

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“Our scouting department, in this part of the season, we are watching around 3,000 matches,” Orta said. “It’s difficult for a head coach to watch 3,000 matches per year and he needs a person that provides the information.

“I need the coach focused on the game on Friday, Middlesbrough, knowing our best team, trying out the best things on the training ground daily with the 25 players. And we need to try to provide him with all this information to enrich his work. This is the idea of a scouting department with a head coach.”

In a recent interview with the YEP, Radrizzani refuted suggestions that Orta’s influence or performance in the transfer market so far was a cause for concern.

“I don’t accept that,” he said. “I’m very happy with my management. If we should crucify everyone for a mistake this club would never go where it should go. Continuity is very important.”

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Speaking in United’s Q&A, though, Radrizzani, who bought full control of Leeds from Massimo Cellino nine months ago, admitted his initial experience of professional football was changing his approach to hiring staff.

Radrizzani said: “I learned that football is very fast, everything happens very quickly, more than any other business that I’ve been in before

“I think in the hiring process I need to do the opposite of what I do in my normal business. I need to rationalise and spend more time before I hire someone because I need to make sure that their view of the club, of the DNA of the club, and my mentalities match with the person we hire. Either a player or a coach or part of the top executive team in the club. I need to dedicate more time in the hiring process.”