Leeds United director of football Victor Orta has hailed the influence of Sevilla sporting director Monchi on his career.

Orta was taken to Elland Road by Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani and tasked with building a team to compete for promotion to the Premier League; he was also key to the Whites' appointment of Marcelo Bielsa as head coach.  

 



He has been praised for his work at Leeds, but credits much of who he is as a director of football to Monchi.

Monchi has developed a reputation as a smart operator in the transfer market and before leaving Sevilla for Roma in 2016, made the Spanish side a profit of over €200m on players; he returned to Sevilla last year.
 


Orta worked with Monchi at Sevilla and insists that the sporting director had the touches of a genius when it came to identifying players for the club.



"I spent seven years at his side. He is my mentor, from whom I have learned many things and a large part of who I am today is thanks to him", Orta told Play Futbol.

"We had several discussions and, for example, he would come and tell me 'this player is the best on the list' and you would stick out your chest, as technical secretary, and then he would tell you later 'but he is the second best for Sevilla'.
 

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"They are touches of genius."

Orta is in the thick of transfer market planning for the summer, but it is still unclear in which division the Whites will be playing in next season.

While Leeds sit top of the Championship table, it remains to be seen if the league will be able to be played to a finish and some Premier League sides have questioned whether teams should be promoted on the basis of an incomplete season.