I refused to sanction £12m Leeds United transfer for striker who now has £84m release clause

Victor Orta has admitted to missing out on Viktor Gyokeres during his spell as sporting director at Leeds United - with the recruitment chief unwilling to spend €14million (£11.7m).

Leeds were heavily linked with a move for Gyokeres in January 2023, with manager Jesse Marsch in need of attacking reinforcements after losing top-scorer Rodrigo to injury earlier that month. Patrick Bamford was struggling with fitness issues and so Orta was tasked with recruiting a forward whose goals could stave off Premier League relegation.

Gyokeres had scored 17 goals in 35 Championship games when his name emerged and attracted the interest of several top-flight clubs, but Orta instead decided on a £36m deal for Georginio Rutter from Hoffenheim. The former Whites transfer chief was recently a guest speaker for postgraduate students at the Liga Portugal Business School, and revealed he was not keen to fork out what he thought was too much for the Swedish striker.

“When I was at Leeds United I didn’t want to give €14m for him,” Orta said, as reported by Record (via Sport Witness). “Cases like that of Gyokeres are the good surprises that football gives us, those things that we cannot measure.”

Leeds were eventually relegated that season, with Georginio unable to provide the instant impact many fans demanded from a January arrival. The French prospect registered just one assist in 11 appearances as his side burned through three managers.

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The last of those three, Sam Allardyce, brutally insisted Georginio simply ‘wasn’t good enough’ to start during his ill-fated four-game spell in charge. Leeds did get to see the best of their record signing during last season’s failed Championship promotion push, albeit he was sold to Brighton for £40m in the summer, yielding very little profit.

Gyokeres continued his excellent form for Coventry and eventually got his top-flight move the following summer, with Portuguese outfit Sporting CP paying around £15m. That fee has since turned out to be one of the biggest bargains in recent memory, with the striker netting an incredible 66 goals in 68 games across all competitions.

The 26-year-old already has 16 league goals in 11 games this season and bagged a Champions League hat-trick in Sporting’s 4-1 thrashing of Manchester City earlier this month. That form has led to inevitable speculation surrounding a move to the Premier League, with Gyokeres’ contract in Lisbon containing an £84m release clause.

Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have all been linked with a summer move for Gyokeres, whose eventual sale will bring huge profits to Sporting regardless of whether that clause is triggered or negotiated down. Across the continent, clubs like Paris Saint-German and Bayern Munich are also thought to be keen on the forward who could have been plying his trade at Elland Road instead.