Victor Orta has conceded that he made mistakes in recruitment in his first year as Leeds United director of football, but insisted that he also does not want medals for the success he has achieved.
Orta was appointed the Leeds director of football in 2017 and there were question marks raised over a number of his early signings.
The Spaniard’s work at Middlesbrough was also under the scanner due to some of the deals he completed, but over the last two years, Orta has played a key role in building a squad good enough to win the Championship.
Orta concedes that he did make mistakes in his first year at Leeds, but insists that recruitment can never hit a 100 per cent success rate.
He stressed that even the best of director of football, such as Monchi, has made mistakes in the market and feels it is part and parcel of recruitment.
Orta told The Athletic: “They criticise recruitment and some of it I can’t explain. Obviously I made mistakes and failed in the first year. But all teams make mistakes.
“Nobody has 100 per cent in the performance of the players. Normally, the rule is from five signings, three are good, two are bad.
“Always, in all the clubs. Even with my master, Monchi, at Sevilla. Even he would have two bad, because players are human. They have a lot of things that need to be right for success.”
The Leeds transfer guru also insisted that he is not keen to garner medals for signing Ben White on loan from Brighton last summer and he turned out to be an unquestionable success at Elland Road.
“In some situations, we were right, like with Ben White, who hadn’t played one game in the Championship but now could be one of the best centre-backs in the country.
“But you need to accept the process and not ask for medals by saying, ‘Look, I signed Ben White’.
“You need to be measured. So when you fail, try to know why. Don’t ever believe you are the best. Think of it all as part of the process.”
All eyes will be on who Leeds will choose to sign this summer to prepare for the Premier League.
