Leeds United have been told that they let slip a potentially great goalkeeper a few years back by Juventus and Italy legend Gianluigi Buffon.
The 49ers have been trying to clear out the mess that former sporting director Victor Orta’s transfer policy created during his reign at Elland Road.
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Marcelo Bielsa credited the Spanish deal maker for building the squad that won the Championship and earned promotion to the Premier League in the 2019/20 season.
However, Orta was also responsible for some of the worst buys in the club’s recent history, and Leeds eventually got rid of him for far too many mistakes in the market.
Gianluigi Buffon tipped former Leeds United goalkeeper Elia Caprile for greatness
Leeds signed Caprile from Chievo in 2020. He played for the reserve team before spending a loan spell at Bari, before getting sold to the Italian club in 2022.
The 24-year-old goalkeeper is now performing at a high level in Italy for Cagliari, and Buffon namechecked him as one of the Italian goalkeepers who are destined for great things in the future.
He stressed that Caprile will soon play in the Championship, which will be another feather in the former Leeds goalkeeper’s cap.
“We have Donnarumma, Meret, Carnesecchi, Caprile”, Buffon told Sports Illustrated.
“These are truly goalkeepers of great calibre, of a very high level, who would all play in the Champions League.
“In fact, they do play there, four out of five of them do, Caprile, let’s wait until next year, he might too play in the Champions League, and that means the level is very high.”
Victor Orta set Leeds back with his transfer policy
Orta brought Bielsa to Leeds and then built the squad that earned Leeds promotion to the Premier League in more than 15 years.
However, the former Leeds sporting director made some horrendous errors in the market, which led to their eventual relegation again in the 2022/23 season.
More than the players Leeds bought, the club are still counting the mistakes of some of the talented youngsters that they sold under Orta’s leadership.
Caprile is one of the young players who never got an opportunity at Leeds, and is now likely to play in the Champions League soon, and is rated by a legendary goalkeeper such as Buffon.
It has been more than two years since Orta left, but Leeds are still feeling the impact of the transfer mistakes he committed in the market.
One of his last signings, Max Wober, is still technically a Leeds player and is spending another season on loan, and doesn’t have a future at Elland Road.