Victor Orta's work at Leeds United is not done, despite lucrative offer from Serie A side Roma

But the Whites director of football is staying put, despite what the YEP understands was a very lucrative offer from Roma, who went to a lot of effort to try and coax him to Italy.

It's not the first offer Orta has rejected, several clubs have expressed an interest in his services without getting their man. In June RB Leipzig reportedly identified him as an ideal candidate for their technical director vacancy.

His stock has risen having helped bring Marcelo Bielsa to Elland Road and made good use of the transfer market to bolster what was a midtable Championship club, en route to this year's promotion.

The 2019/20 loan signing of Ben White, a player Orta wanted to bring in a year previous, was one of the best bits of business in the second tier last season. The defender slotted in seamlessly to Leeds' defence, replacing Pontus Jansson with ease.

Illan Meslier was brought in on a loan deal from FC Lorient and acted as understudy to Kiko Casilla before the Spanish keeper's racism ban, then took over the number one spot. The 20-year-old was made a permanent signing for a bargainous £5m and has made an impressive start to life in the Premier League.

Jack Harrison is another player Orta brought to Elland Road on a temporary basis,with a view to a permanent deal and his stellar form last season made him a firm favourite with Bielsa and the fanbase. Leeds were able to renegotiate the deal, secured the winger for a third season on loan and pushed back the obligation to buy him for a year, freeing up cash to be used on other new signings this summer.

It wasn't just the players he brought in who propelled Leeds to a Championship title, Kalvin Phillips credits Orta for effectively making the right decision for him when he was in two minds as to whether or not to leave and join Aston Villa in the top flight.

The midfielder, another standout player last season who has since gone on to represent England, explained: "I came in one day and Victor said to me, ‘Listen, if you want to leave then just let me know. If you want to leave, tell me right now and I’ll sell you’. I said, ‘I don’t know’. So Victor said, ‘If you don’t know then I’m not selling you’.

"I’m so pleased Victor told me I wasn’t leaving. I said that to him. He was thanking me for staying but I thanked him. I told him, ‘If it wasn’t for you, this wouldn’t be happening.'"

Having kept the title-winning squad together, Phillips and all, the 2020 summer transfer window has given Orta the chance to spread his wings, recruitment wise, with lots of money to spend on players of international experience who he believes can add quality what Bielsa already has. Leeds broke their transfer record to attract Spanish national team forward Rodrigo who has already begun to excite supporters with his all-action cameos in the last two Premier League outings and his goal against Manchester City.

Most of Orta's work, he says, is to prepare for eventualities that may not even happen and Robin Koch was a player he tracked for years. In January he told the YEP that the German international defender was not a player Leeds could hope to sign as a Championship club, but when they won promotion and Brighton refused to sell White, Orta got his long-term target for less than half the price of their former loanee. He also added Diego Llorente, another Spanish international, to the defence.

Raphinha, a Brazilian winger bought by Rennes for €21m last summer, was Orta's final international deal of the window, bought for around €19m, with add-ons to come.

A secondary objective of the window was to build for the future and Orta's scouting team sought top prospects from European and domestic football. Cody Drameh, bought from Fulham, has shone in his early Under 23s outings, along with Joe Gelhardt from Wigan, whose strength, speed and awareness give him the look of a player who will be knocking on the door of senior football before long. Arsenal forward Sam Greenwood has hit the ground running, too, in the 23s and there is great excitement in Northern Ireland over the potential possessed by 16-year-old Charlie Allen, signed from Linfield.

While the success of this window will be determined in time, there's no doubt Leeds can be satisfied that they were not caught dithering over targets. If a player wasn't available, they moved on to another target. The domestic window, open until 16 October, will afford Orta one more chance to get a central midfielder to cover for Mateusz Klich in case his apparent invincibility wears off. There is a player Orta likes but a deal is currently classed by club sources as unlikely. Leeds can't sign players for the sake of signing players, Bielsa will not abide that and anyone coming in must be up to spec, technically and physically. But if one more deal is done and a midfielder deemed acceptable by Orta and the head coach arrives, it would be the cherry on a mouthwatering cake.

Orta's time at Leeds has not been without its road bumps or failures - he says himself that no one can boast a 100 per cent track record in recruitment and admits there were a lot of mistakes in his first year at Elland Road. But it's clear he has learned from those, fashioned a productive working relationship with Bielsa and grown into another asset the club are keen to keep hold of.

"Victor has been a massive part of our success both in the championship and in the squad he's building for the Premier League," said Kinnear on deadline day.

"There is interest from other clubs, it doesn't surprise us but we're not letting him go anywhere and if they saw his behaviour in the directors' box they wouldn't want him either."

The offer made to Orta by Roma was no joke and suggests they would quite happily have him ranting and raving from the stand during games. His displays of passion are the subject of playful mockery from Kinnear yet endear him to fans. He wasn't always like this. “It is true if you analyse my behaviour before Leeds I was more calm in another situation, perhaps because I was in other roles," he told the YEP. Connecting with what he describes as a 'latin passion' at Elland Road, Orta has made himself right at home and made himself part of the furniture. In doing so he has made other clubs value his work but his work, at Leeds, is not done.