Victor Orta hit rare Leeds United jackpot with £1.3m capture - View | OneFootball

Victor Orta did not always get it right for Leeds United in the transfer market, but he certainly struck gold with Crysencio Summerville in 2020

Former Leeds United director of football Victor Orta divided opinion to say the least during his time at Elland Road, but nobody can dispute that he hit the jackpot with Crysencio Summerville

Formerly of Middlesbrough and now with Sevilla in La Liga, the Spaniard spent six years as Leeds' director of football and certainly brought some duds to the club. However, he also had his successes - and Leeds reaped the rewards from that this summer.

Victor Orta's transfer failures at Leeds United

Leeds supporters still rue Orta to this very day for some of the significant sums he tossed away on players who either were not worthy of the investment in the first place or simply flattered to deceive altogether.

The most notable Orta blunder was, of course, Jean-Kevin Augustin. Highly-rated at the time, Augustin was signed on loan from RB Leipzig with an obligation to buy in January 2020, although he played just 48 minutes of football during he second half of that season as Leeds sealed a return to the Premier League.

They elected not to take Augustin on permanently, but they were ordered to pay £40m for the transfer by the Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier this year after being found to be in breach of his contract. Such an outlay for someone who barely played in the first place is not just Orta's worst signing at Leeds, or the club's for that matter, but perhaps one of the costliest, most regrettable deals in the history of the game.

Leeds have also lived to regret signing the likes of Marc Roca, Robin Koch, Helder Costa and Diego Llorente in recent years too, with Orta often failing to get it right when it came to big-money acquisitions. However, he did find some bargains too, and Summerville is undoubtedly the pick of the bunch.

Leeds United and Victor Orta hit the jackpot with Crysencio Summerville transfer

Leeds signed Summerville for a reported £1.3m fee from Dutch top-flight outfit Feyenoord in September 2020. Summerville was only 18 years of age at the time and initially began to cut his teeth at Thorp Arch in Leeds' U23 side, where it soon became transparent that he was classes above the level.

The Dutch winger appeared sporadically for Leeds in the 2021/22 Premier League campaign but was much more prominent the following season despite their relegation, scoring against Fulham, Liverpool, Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur. He made 33 appearances across all competitions for Leeds that year and they managed to retain him heading into the Championship, which proved an inspired decision.

Summerville set the tone of what was to come by scoring a late equaliser to send Elland Road into raptures and overturn a two-goal defecit at home to Cardiff City on the opening day, and it proved to be the first of 20 Championship strikes for the starlet.

Leeds may have ultimately failed in their bid to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, but they would have been much further away than 90 minutes at Wembley without the talents of Summerville to call upon throughout the season.

Dynamic, direct and dazzling to watch, Summerville routinely tortured second-tier full-backs at will and opposition defences simply could not cope with the way he would cut in from the left-hand side on his stronger right foot, which was as predictable as it was effective.

Summerville was crowned as the Championship's Player of the Year, beating off competition from the likes of Sammie Szmodics and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and vindicating Orta's decision to bring him to West Yorkshire in the first place.

Although Leeds were left to pick up the pieces when he sealed a £25m transfer back to the top-flight with West Ham United earlier this summer, they were left with a windfall which was only strengthened by the subsequent sale of Georginio Rutter - another Orta signing, for what it's worth.

The expectation will be for Summerville to translate his talents at the London Stadium and he is certainly capable of lighting up the top-flight, meaning Leeds supporters will be eager to see how he gets on. Orta, meanwhile, has many blots on his record at the club but it may just be worth giving him a rare pat on the back for this one.