Having been rebuffed by Christoph Freund of Red Bull Salzburg, Chelsea have moved on to other potential candidates in their search for a Sporting Director.
Although Bayer Leverkusen’s Tim Steidten has been mentioned in relation to the job, the new name doing the rounds is Victor Orta, who is currently with Leeds United.
Orta made his name with Middlesbrough before he was poached by Leeds in 2017, when they were still a Championship club.
Since then he has played a key role in helping them get promoted under Marcelo Bielsa, and continues to work closely with his successor Jesse Marsch, who has described him as an “incredible recruiter.”
He has been credited with spotting and bringing a host of young talent to Elland Road such as Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips, both of whom they subsequently sold for substantial profits.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.