When Victor Orta arrived at Leeds United in the summer of 2017, he was joining a very different club to the one that exists today.
Andrea Radrizzani took full control from Massimo Cellino in May of that year, inheriting a club that was emerging from a brutal period of austerity under the brash Sardinian.
While at Thorp Arch the swimming pool was infamously drained, it was the other behind-the-scenes measures that had a greater impact, none more than the decimation of the club's scouting department which was virtually non-existant.
Orta , who arrived from Middlesbrough with what has been described as a 'weapons-grade' contacts book soon got to work made building a modern, robust scouting department a priority at Leeds United .
In came scouting and analytic tools such as Wyscout and TransferRoom, while regional scouts were assigned to all corners of the globe, as Orta and his staff began to plough through matches at a rate of hundreds a month.
Over the past two years, this set-up has begun to bear fruit, be it from the national title-winning under-23s side or in the shape of first-team acquisitions such as Ben White, brought to Leeds having never played above League One level.
Speaking at the World Football Summit in Madrid, Orta gave insight into just how important investment in a scouting department can be in transforming the club.
“If a CEO in a club invests in the scouting department they can build a new club, not only for buying or selling, but creating a philosophy, create identification with the fans,” he told delegates .
“Investment in a scouting department never has a ceiling. You can change the reality of the club in respect of this situation.”
