Víctor Orta is not having any luck in his journey as Sevilla sports director when it comes to tying up his first options for the forward line. Since the Madrid native returned to Nervión to replace Monchi in the summer of 2023, his efforts to reinforce the team’s attack always ended up becoming entrenched, for one reason or another, to the point of having to resort to plan B and even C in some opportunity to bring in that forward that the coaching staff demanded. The latest disappointment has been Orta with the Brazilian Juninho Vieira, who after weeks of negotiations with Qarabag and the footballer’s own promise to come to Nervión, has left Sevilla FC at the last minute and with honey on his lips its sports director. Flamengo got in the way with an offer that left the Sevillistas no room for maneuver, convincing the player and Qarabag with an economic proposal much superior to that of the Seville. Specifically, the Brazilian club triples the salary that the footballer would have received in Nervión. Víctor Orta had been working for more than a month to close the incorporation of his preferred option for the attack. The transfer agreement was set at around 4 million fixed euros (one of which was put by the player out of his own pocket) plus another additional million in variables. The Qarabag reserved 20% of the capital gain from a future sale. But when the last details were being finalized, Flamengo appeared with its irrefutable proposal. Sevilla FC had prepared Juninho’s medical examination in the capital of Seville for this Wednesday. But both the club and its sports director were stunned by the unexpected direction the operation took. Flamengo’s financial power thwarted Juninho’s arrival. Now everyone in Nervión is crossing their fingers so that Orta’s alternative to the Brazilian striker can live up to what the team demands, with serious problems in that specific position on the field. The sports management had high hopes for Juninho, a player who so far this season had already accumulated a dozen goals in all competitions and who last year scored a whopping 31 goals. It is not the first nor the second time that Orta finds himself in this situation as the top sports official for the white and red team. It already happened a year ago, in the January 2024 market, with two other forwards whose operations also did not come to fruition. The first case was that of Datro Fofana. The Ivorian striker ended his loan at Union Berlin and returned to Chelsea, which was looking for a new destination to borrow its player. However, Sevilla FC, despite Orta’s attempts, was unable to secure his services due to a regulatory obstacle that made his arrival at Sánchez-Pizjuán impossible. FIFA set the maximum number of transfers that a club could make to foreign leagues at seven. As Chelsea exceeded that quota, Datro Fofana could not leave the Premier League and went to Burnley. From that moment on, Orta accelerated with another name on his agenda, that of the Slovakian Robert Bozenik. Sevilla agreed everything with the player and also tied up the transfer with Boavista, but in the last moments of the market the Nervión club received two judicial seizure requests from Portugal that totaled more than five million euros, a figure greater than the one he had to pay for the striker. Boavista, mired in serious financial problems, did not know how to offer a solution in time, so Sevilla FC risked having to pay twice for the Slovakian striker. The people of Nervion had no choice but to withdraw from the operation. Bozenik had even traveled to Seville to undergo a medical examination and streamline the procedures. He had to leave his room at the Los Lebreros hotel and return to Porto. Orta could only close the transfer of an option C like Alejo Véliz, from English Tottenham. The young Argentine striker went almost unnoticed by Nervión, playing just 31 minutes spread over six games. He did not contribute a single goal or assists. Bad luck with the forwards had already made Víctor Orta fail previously with his bet on Mariano Díaz in the 2023 summer market. It is true that the bet on the Hispanic-Dominican carried a low risk due to the low contract that was given to him, but also that his background was zero. He participated in 13 games and scored zero goals. He was also not the first option last summer. Orta chose the Iranian Sardar Azmoun, a striker who was owned by Bayer Leverkusen, as a forward for the newly arrived Xavi García Pimienta’s squad. Work was done on this route for a long time. The option of signing the player was even explored in previous markets. However, everything fell apart again for the Sevilla sports director. Azmoun made a 180-degree turn and opted to go to Shabab Al-Ahli of the United Arab Emirates, a team that also paid Leverkusen 5 million euros for his transfer. Currently, he has 16 goals in 18 games with his new team. The alternative to Azmoun was Kelechi Iheanacho, a striker who has failed to adapt in the five months he has been in Nervión. It is also obvious that the Nigerian has not managed to get in shape in all that time. His contribution is reduced to three goals in the Cup against non-professional rivals such as Las Rozas and Olot. Sevilla FC is trying to place it in the current January market.
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