One of Leeds United’s best players cost the club a bargain £1.25m fee and his old side would never let such a transfer happen again, in hindsight.
Victor Orta often comes in for criticism for the work he did at Leeds United. There were plenty of mistakes the Spaniard made like a number of poor signings or the dreaded relegation loan clause last summer.
There were outbursts in the stands when under scrutiny from fans, too. But there were positives from Orta’s reign and there had to be given Leeds ended a 16-year stint outside the Premier League.
He was the man that thought of bringing Marcelo Bielsa to Elland Road. The man behind the signing of the likes of Raphinha, Illan Meslier and other players worth more than the fee paid to sign them.
In his first few years after joining from Middlesbrough, Orta brought in a number of young players from all over Europe for small fees. Crysencio Summerville was one of those, bought from Feyenoord in 2020.
Leeds paid a bargain fee of just £1.25m to sign a teenage Summerville from Feyenoord and it took a while for him to make his mark on the first team. But now, it looks like the bargain of the century.
Feyenoord regret selling Crysencio Summerville to Leeds
The Athletic claim that Feyenoord regret selling Summerville to Leeds for the bargain £1.25m fee that Orta and the Dutch club agreed four years ago. With hindsight, they would never do it again.
Feyenoord might have chosen to sell back then with doubts emerging over Summerville’s attitude. Or perhaps there was a genuine belief that he might struggle to make it given his size.
But look at Summerville now, the Championship‘s Player of the Season and touted with some of Europe’s biggest clubs for a fee well north of £30m. No surprise, Feyenoord regret the decision to sell him cheap.
Summerville up there with Orta’s best buys at Leeds United
He has to be right up there. If Leeds were to sell Summerville now, Championship or in the Premier League, he could cost more than 30 times what Leeds paid for him.
Other examples include Illan Meslier who was bought for £5m and has also been touted at times with the likes of Bayern Munich. Raphinha joined for £17m and was sold to Barcelona for a record sale of £55m.
Pascal Struijk was like Summerville in that Orta bought him as an unknown teenager on the cheap. Mateo Joseph and maybe a little less so, in Willy Gnonto with the winger already an Italy international.
All excellent, bargain buys that should be remembered when those criticise Orta. His tenure ended in disarray but he did plenty of good work while in the Leeds boardroom as the club’s sporting director.