Former Leeds United sporting director Victor Orta can look back on his spell at Elland Road with plenty of pride as he enjoyed plenty of success in Yorkshire.
Whilst his time at the club ended on a low, with relegation back down to the Championship, the Spaniard did oversee some fantastic football under Marcelo Bielsa that led to a second-tier title and a ninth-placed Premier League finish.
The 44-year-old Sevilla chief had mixed success in the transfer market with a number of flops and successes throughout his tenure with the Whites.
Orta’s most-expensive Leeds signings | |
|---|---|
Player | Fee (via Transfermarkt) |
Brenden Aaronson | £28.4m |
Rodrigo | £25.9m |
Dan James | £25.1m |
Georginio Rutter | £24.2m |
Luis Sinisterra | £21.6m |
However, he may also look back at some of the players who almost joined the club and wonder what could have happened if things had gone differently.
One target who was reportedly on the verge of a transfer to Elland Road before it eventually fell through and caused Orta looked elsewhere was Michael Cuisance ahead of the 2020/21 campaign.
Were Leeds interested in Michael Cuisance?
The Daily Mail reported in September 2020 that Leeds were closing in on a deal to sign the versatile midfielder in an £18m deal from Bayern Munich.
It was claimed that the club were discussing a five-year contract with the French gem and that the player was looking for a move in search of regular game time after failing to become a regular with the German giants.
However, the move did not go ahead as planned and Sky Sports then reported that the talented youngster had failed a medical in Yorkshire, although there were no specifics given as to why that was the case.
Cuisance has played the majority of his football as a central or attacking midfielder but Orta did not opt to sign an alternative with directly similar qualities as winger Raphinha was brought in for a reported £17m after they failed to sign the Bayern prospect.
However, the £18m target is a left-footed ace who can play out wide on the right and the plan may have been to utilise him out wide, which is where the Brazil international went on to thrive after his move from Rennes.
Why did Leeds want Cuisance?
Orta and Bielsa eyed up a deal for Cuisance after he had made his first-team breakthrough for Bayern during the 2019/20 campaign, following on from his move from Borussia Monchengladbach in 2019.
The France U20 international made ten appearances in all competitions and contributed with one goal and one assist from a midfield position, which both came in his nine Bundesliga outings.
That came after the central midfielder had played 39 senior matches in two seasons with Gladbach and chipped in with zero goals and three assists.
He started ten top-flight games in those two campaigns and this shows that the young Frenchman was set to arrive at Leeds with limited first-team experience under his belt.
Cuisance had yet to prove himself to be a reliable performer in a major European league, due to his sporadic appearances for Gladbach and Bayern, and had not contributed much at the top end of the pitch in the way of goals and assists.
Raphinha joined Leeds after the French midfielder’s move to Elland Road collapsed.
How many goals did Raphinha score for Leeds?
If the two deals were linked, it turned out to be a blessing as the exciting winger scored 17 goals in 67 games for the club.
The Brazilian forward enjoyed two fantastic years in Yorkshire as he proved himself to be a reliable performer at Premier League level with his ability to score goals and create chances on a regular basis in the final third.
He contributed with six goals and nine assists in 30 top-flight appearances during his debut campaign to help Bielsa’s side finish in the top-half of the table. In that time, the left-footed magician created 12 ‘big chances’ in total and produced 2.1 key passes per game for his teammates.
Raphinha followed that up with 11 goals and three assists in 35 Premier League games throughout the 2021/22 season, as Leeds retained their status at the top level under Jesse Marsch, before his £55m move to Barcelona in the summer of 2022.
Where is Cuisance now?
Cuisance, meanwhile, has failed to kick on in his career and is currently with VfL Osnabrück on loan in the second tier of Austrian football.
The 24-year-old talent joined Marseille on loan from Bayern after his switch to Leeds fell through and scored twice in 30 appearances for the French side.
He eventually completed a permanent exit from the German giants to join Venezia in Italy during the January transfer window in 2022 and has only scored twice in 26 outings for the club to date.
How much is Cuisance worth now?
The former Leeds target, who was once described as a “rotten egg” by ex-Bayern player Markus Babbel, is currently valued at €3.6m (£3.1m) by FootballTransfers.
This means that Cuisance’s value has plummeted by a staggering 83% from the £18m that Leeds were seemingly willing to splash on his services in 2020.
The midfielder, three years on from that transfer saga, is still yet to prove himself to be a consistent performer at the top level and now finds himself playing second-division football in Germany.
Whereas, Raphinha joined Leeds and instantly became a star for Bielsa on the right flank, cutting inside onto his stronger left foot to make things happen at the top end of the pitch.
The Brazil international joined for £17m and was sold for £55m and this means that Orta and the Whites made a significant 224% profit on him within a two-year period, to go along with his exceptional displays in the Premier League.
Therefore, the former Leeds chief avoided a huge blunder with Cuisance as his career trajectory since that summer suggests that he would have been a huge flop and cost the club a fortune, due to his lack of quality on the pitch and his decreasing market value.
He should now look back on the collapsed deal for the France U20 international as a blessing in disguise at the time as, in hindsight, it saved the Whites millions.
