Orta’s “monster” signing saw his value rise by £8m in just 1 year

Leeds United were relegated from the Premier League at the end of last season and some supporters may blame the club’s poor work in the transfer market as one of the key factors behind their drop to the Championship.

Who are Leeds’ most expensive signings?

The Whites were promoted to the top-flight in 2020 and they used their new-found funds at the top level to bolster their squad with a host of big-money additions.

Fees via Transfermarkt.

Indeed, four of the club’s five most expensive signings in their history have been in the last three years, since their 2020 promotion-winning campaign.

Former sporting director Victor Orta was not afraid to splash the cash but he did not do enough to build a squad that could keep the team up last term.

However, not every signing was a disaster under the Spanish chief, who joined LaLiga outfit Sevilla this summer, as he did strike gold with a number of additions, one of whom was central midfielder Tyler Adams.

How much did Leeds pay for Tyler Adams?

The Whites swooped to sign the USA international from Bundesliga side RB Leipzig in the summer of 2022 for a reported transfer fee of £15m.

He was brought to Elland Road in spite of an unimpressive year in the German top flight with his former club. The defensive anchor averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.68 and made 1.7 tackles and interceptions per game across 24 league appearances throughout the 2021/22 campaign.

To put that number into context, 18 other Leipzig players averaged higher Sofascore ratings than Adams. He also ranked 13th for tackles and 12th for interceptions per match among his teammates throughout the season. This shows that the holding midfielder struggled to impose himself on games and was far away from being one of the best performers at the club.

Orta secured his services to reunite him with Jesse Marsch, who had worked with him in Germany, ahead of alternative target Mohamed Camara from Red Bull Salzburg, who had also played under the American head coach.

The Mali international eventually moved to AS Monaco in France for a reported fee of €15m (£12.8m) after it was claimed that Leeds failed in a €25m (£21.4m) swoop for his services earlier in the window.

Their failure to sign Camara turned out to be a blessing in disguise as they were able to acquire Adams for significantly less money with the USMNT star enjoying a more successful season, on a personal level, than the Ligue 1 enforcer.

How well did Adams perform for Leeds?

Leeds seemingly saw the potential for the USA international to be far better than his displays for Leipzig indicated he was and they were spot on as the midfielder produced consistently impressive performances in the Premier League.

Adams hit the ground running in England and was able to showcase his defensive quality on a regular basis in the middle of the park, playing in midfield alongside former Bayern Munich talent Marc Roca.

The 24-year-old patroller averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.98 and completed 82% of his attempted passes across 24 top-flight outings for the Whites throughout the 2022/23 campaign.

No player with at least one start under their belt averaged a higher Sofascore rating than the former Leipzig man, who was able to deliver excellent showings week-in-week-out.

His ability to win possession back for the team was arguably his biggest strength. Adams made an outstanding 5.2 tackles and interceptions per game and won 57% of his duels, as per Sofascore, which shows that he came out on top in the majority of his physical contests.

No Leeds player with more than one appearance made more tackles and interceptions per outing and he made 0.8 more tackles each game than any of those teammates. This shows that he was an outstanding presence in midfield with his fantastic defensive quality.

Unfortunately, the central midfielder ended up missing the finale of the campaign as a hamstring injury ruled him out from the 15th of March onwards. This meant that Sam Allardyce, who was the caretaker boss during the run-in, was without the impressive gem’s talents for a number of crucial matches.

Camara, on the other hand, averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.82 and made 3.8 tackles and interceptions combined across 29 Ligue 1 outings for Monaco.

Adams happened to rank within the top 3% of his positional peers among the Men’s Big Five Leagues and European competitions for tackles and blocks per 90 respectively over the last 365 days. Whereas, Camara ranked in the bottom 36% or lower in both statistics during that time.

These statistics suggest that the Yorkshire-based outfit struck gold by signing the American dynamo instead of the Mali international due to his higher average performance level and his considerably better defensive contributions as a number six.

How much did Leeds sell Adams for?

Leeds cashed in on the “monster” – as he was dubbed by journalist Kevin Koczwara – during the recent summer transfer window after their relegation to the Championship.

Adams’ performances were good enough to earn him a transfer back to the Premier League as Bournemouth swooped in to secure his services for a reported fee of £23m plus add-ons.

The move to the south coast came after a switch to Stamford Bridge to link up with Mauricio Pochettino failed to materialise.

This shows that Orta struck gold for the Whites as the defensive midfielder’s market value soared by a minimum of £8m, with it remaining to be seen how much the add-ons are worth, in just one year at Elland Road.

He was a standout performer in a poor team last term and should be viewed as a successful signing in spite of the side’s fate as Adams did his job on the pitch and was let down by his teammates, whilst he also made the club a significant profit off the field with his move to the Cherries.

Ortad deserves credit for that signing and supporters may wonder why the Spanish sporting director was not able to unearth more gems like him in recent years, as a few more additions like that could have bolstered their chances of avoiding the drop last season.