Leeds United director of football, Victor Orta, is attracting interest ahead of the January transfer window.

What's the talk?

That's according to a claim made by Football Insights (via Leeds Live), who suggest that Newcastle United have been discussing a potential move to appoint the Spaniard as their new director of football ahead of the upcoming winter market.

Leeds Live continue to claim that, although it is unclear how serious these reported talks were, the Magpies' interest in Orta is a stark reminder that the club may well have a fight on their hands to not only keep hold of their most talented players but also a number of their backroom team.

In their tweet, Football Insights stated: "Internally, Newcastle Utd have discussed Victor Orta as a potential DoF candidate."

Disaster

Since being appointed at Elland Road back in May of 2017, Orta has had a remarkable role in transforming a midtable Championship side into one that finished in the top half of the Premier League last season.

Indeed, the director of football has done a fantastic job in continually reinventing the Leeds United playing squad, having signed a number of highly impressive players over his first two seasons with the club, including the likes of Mateusz Klich, Patrick Bamford and Jack Harrison, all of whom helped the club achieve promotion to the top flight and are now worth considerably more than the fees the club paid for their services.

This is a feat Orta has managed to repeat since the club's promotion to the Premier League, with perhaps the Spaniard's most impressive piece of business being the £16.74m signing of Raphinha - who is now being linked with a €60m (£51m) move to either Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea.

The director has also overseen massive investment in the club's youth side, securing deals for some of the most exciting young players in the game, such as Joe Gelhardt, Sam Greenwood and Crysencio Summerville.

Furthermore, Orta also played a huge role in bringing legendary manager Marcelo Bielsa to the club, with the Whites' chairman, Andrea Radrizzani, personally thanking him for his work in securing the Argentine coach, stating: "I would like to thank Victor Orta and Angus Kinnear for all of the hard work that has gone into this appointment."

Radrizzani is not the only person to recognise Orta's work at Elland Road, with the former Leeds United midfielder, David Norris, stating of the director of football: "He deserves massive credit. They must do loads of research, background checks, watch the players and find out all their personal stuff to make sure they’re the right fit for the club. Orta is a massive part of that so a lot of credit will go to him when it comes to the players coming in."

As such, considering his importance to the way Leeds currently operate, if the Spaniard were to move onto pastures new in the near future, it would undoubtedly be a colossal disaster for the club, as they would practically have to start their current process all over again.

In other news: Bielsa can save Radz millions with "different" Leeds teen who reminds Orta of Aguero