Leeds United director of football Victor Orta has had his fair share of successes and failures in the transfer market since joining the club in 2017.

The likes of Patrick Bamford, Mateusz Klich and Raphinha are some of the successful additions, whilst the jury is still out on big-money signing Rodrigo.

But what about transfers that Orta failed to get over the line?

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One player that the club were reportedly interested in signing in 2018 was attacking midfielder Emiliano Buendia from Spanish side Getafe. However, instead of joining the Lillywhites, he signed for their Championship rivals Norwich for a fee of £1.3m (Transfermarkt).

He made an immediate impact in England as he starred in the Canaries' promotion to the Premier League in 2019 at the expense of Leeds. Buendia scored eight goals and provided 17 assists in all competitions as Daniel Farke's team won the Championship title.

The winger was then directly involved in eight Premier League goals as Norwich were relegated from the top flight at the first time of asking. Instead of leaving the Norfolk outfit, though, the Argentine winger stayed on for another year and enjoyed a sensational season in the second tier.

Buendia won the Championship Player of the Year award as he scored 15 goals and set up a further 17 in 39 outings as the Canaries romped their way to another title. His performances led to him being dubbed a “revelation” by former top-flight striker Chris Sutton, with the midfielder dominating the division. 

This form earned him a move to Aston Villa last summer for £33m and he has delivered two goals and four assists in 28 Premier League matches to date for his current club.

At the time of writing (14/04/22), Transfermarkt value him in the region of £31m. This illustrates how far he has come in the last four years, as his value has skyrocketed since he arrived in England from Getafe.

He has proven himself to be far too good for the Championship and he has been a constant threat in the Premier League with his creative passing. Buendia has averaged 1.4 key passes per match this term, having averaging 2.3 for Norwich in his previous top-flight campaign in 2019/20.

Therefore, Orta played a major Leeds disasterclass by missing out on the Argentina international for £1.3m in the summer of 2018. Not only would the Whites have enjoyed his sublime talents on the pitch under Marcelo Bielsa, but they also would have been able to make a huge profit on him - just as Norwich did.

AND in other news, Adam Pope drops 6-word Leeds injury update, Jesse Marsch will be delighted...