Leeds flop sold by Orta in 2021 is now worth more than Struijk & Gruev
Leeds flop sold by Orta in 2021 is now worth more than Struijk & Gruev
Leeds United parted company with Victor Orta in May of last year and are now looking to fight their way back to the Premier League without him, with the play-off final against Southampton at Wembley on Sunday.
The former Whites sporting director ultimately contributed to the club's relegation from the top-flight last season as his appointments, Jesse Marsch and Javi Gracia, failed to keep them in the division.
Now working at Sevilla, the Spanish chief did have his fair share of howlers and blinders in the transfer market, and one that looks to be in the former category is the sale of Rafa Mujica as the club had a nightmare with him.
The young striker was sold by Orta in the summer of 2021 and has since gone on to thrive away from Elland Road, with a reported transfer pending that makes him more valuable than Leeds star Pascal Struijk.
Rafa Mujica's form since leaving Leeds
Signed from Barcelona in 2019, Mujica did not make a single first-team appearance for the Yorkshire-based outfit in two year before his move to Las Palmas on a free transfer in 2021.
After one goal in 14 league matches for the Spanish side during the 2021/22 campaign, Portuguese side Arouca swooped in to secure his services and they never looked back.
He produced 14 goals and one assist in 32 matches in all competitions for the club in his first season in Portugal, before kicking on again this term.
As you can see in the table above, the 25-year-old marksman, who scored 23 goals in all competitions, was prolific in the Liga Portugal as he outperformed his xG by almost four goals.
Rafa Mujica's big-money transfer this summer
The former Whites youngster is now reportedly on course to make a move away from Arouca this summer to join Qatar-based side Al-Sadd.
Journalist Pedro Sepúlveda reported earlier this month that he is in advanced talks to join them for a fee of €9m with a further €2m in add-ons, taking the total package to €11m (£9.4m).
This means that Mujica is currently valued higher than a number of Whites stars, including Glen Kamara (€6m), Ilia Gruev (€5.4m), and Pascal Struijk (€9.5m) - per FootballTransfers.
Struijk had made 23 appearances in the Championship at centre-back during the first half of the campaign before a groin injury put an end to his season.
This speaks to the Spanish striker's turnaround in fortunes since leaving Yorkshire that he is now worth more than the Dutch defender, who has the eighth-highest Sofascore rating in the Leeds squad this term (7.12) and captained the team on many occasions this season.
It has been reported that, as one of the teams that helped to develop Mujica, Leeds will receive 5% of the initial fee, which would be roughly £380k from £7.6m in this case.
That £380k may not be enough to forget about how much of a nightmare they had by letting him go in 2021 as his 20 league goals this season suggest that he could have turned into a strong player for the club, given that Crysencio Summerville (20) is the only player with more than 14 strikes to his name this term.
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The Whites are reportedly interested in a swoop to sign the soon-to-be free agent defender.
Orta had a howler when he decided to let the centre-forward go as he was not given a single first-team opportunity to prove himself and should have been given a chance, which his form this term suggests Mujica may have taken, to prove himself.
Instead, he has gone on to be a roaring success in Portugal and is now looking set for a big-money move to Qatar, making him more valuable than several of Daniel Farke's stars.