Picture the scene, it’s January 31st 2019, Leeds are in the midst of one of the tightest promotion races we’ve seen in years, and they’re hunting for that one signing to improve the squad and get them over the line.

It looks as though they’ve got their man in the shape of Daniel James, medicals are done, fees are agreed and most of the paperwork has been signed, but at the last minute Swansea stop answering United’s phone calls, and the deal doesn’t go through.

Within six months, James was signing for one of the biggest clubs in the world, while Leeds were left rotting in the second-tier for another season.

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Victor Orta, Leeds’ Director of Football was visibly hurt by this move falling through, during Leeds’ Amazon Prime documentary you could see that he was almost in tears after not getting it done, and unfortunately, he’s partly to blame for Leeds’ January 2019 failings.

The Spaniard quite simply left it too late to look for alternatives if a deal fell apart, and he perfectly highlighted the dangers of working on deadline day.

Luckily, Leeds managed to get promoted in the 2019/20 campaign, and now that they’re back in the Premier League, they’re once again sniffing around James.

The winger would be a great fit for Marcelo Bielsa’s side due to his lightning speed and energetic style down the wing, but away from how he would perform on the pitch, getting this move done would allow Orta to draw a line under one of his biggest professional failings to date, by finally securing his man 18 months later.

Yes, this signing would be excellent on a footballing level, after all, James has been a regular for one of the best teams in the Premier League for the past season, but on a personal basis for the people that run the club, this would be a mammoth achievement to right the wrongs of the past.