Outgoing Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani opens up on Victor Orta's tenure and recruitment at Elland Road

The Italian has sold the club to 49ers Enterprises, with the EFL now having approved the ownership transition following a tense wait for supporters. He took full control of the club in May 2017, overseeing both promotion to the Premier League and relegation back to the Championship across his six years in West Yorkshire.

In an interview with Sky Sports, he has addressed mistakes made during his time at the club and addressed the divisive tenure of Victor Orta as director of football. Orta joined the club in 2017 and spent six years overseeing recruitment at Elland Road.

He helped bring fan favourites such as Mateusz Klich and Raphinha to the club, but came under fire for some of the club’s less successful additions. Leeds parted ways with Orta in May.

Radrizzani told Sky Sports: "Like every football director, you can make some good calls and some bad calls. He brought in players like Raphinha and he made other choices with less impact. It's part of the job. For sure, if I could go back, I would be more careful on a couple of things.

"Firstly, unconditionally following Victor - who is very talented - during our phase of the club, being just in the Premier League for three years, could be dangerous. Why? Because Victor tended to focus his scouting on players who still had to show that they were good enough. His focus was on the potential next talent.

"The risk that you could find the next [star] player or not is higher - rather than buying a player who is either 27 or 28 years old. For a team like Leeds that needed to consolidate their position in the Premier League, if you spend over £100m in one transfer market in the summer, you have to consider having one or two players who are mature and have national team experience. Players who have character to stay on the pitch - and that is something we lack.

He also referenced Orta’s decision to recruit players from the Austrian top flight, insisting the gulf in quality between the division and the Premier League was too big.

He said: "I think Victor's biggest challenge was the number of players and a coach that came in from the Austrian league with the expectation they could perform in the Premier League.

"With all respect, the gap is too big. But I am also responsible because I was here too. I have to take the blame at the same level as Victor but we took too many risks.

"We put good coaches, players, good professionals in positions, but maybe they needed another step before coming to the Premier League, the most difficult league in the world."