Leyton Orient director of football Martin Ling has hailed the “good deal” his club have agreed with Leeds United for the sale of striker Sam Dalby.
Non-league outfit Orient announced on their official website and Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon that the giant forward, 18, is joining the Championship club.
Leeds revealed on their official site that Dalby has agreed the terms of a two-and-a-half year contract that runs until the summer of 2020.
NEWS: The Club can confirm it has agreed a deal with @LUFC for the sale of forward Sam Dalby – https://t.co/pziOJixwto#LOFC #OnlyOneOrient pic.twitter.com/yNSjR5hZNK
— Leyton Orient (@leytonorientfc) January 23, 2018
Football Insider, who broke the news on Monday that Leeds had agreed to sign Dalby and the deal would be done today, revealed that United had beaten a number of clubs to the signature of the centre-forward, who had a trial at Crystal Palace earlier in the season.
Ling told the Orient website: “I would like to wish Sam the best of luck in his future career and thank him for his efforts over his time at the Club. This was a good deal and opportunity for both the Club and the player, and therefore was difficult to turn down.”
Dalby will initially link up with Leeds’ Under-23s squad with a view to developing into a first-team regular in Thomas Christensen’s plans at Elland Road.
“He has already tasted League Two and National League football, he is tall and strong, and we are confident that in a couple of years time he can be competing for a place in our first team,” said Leeds recruitment chief Victor Orta.
Good move for Leeds?
Yes. Some will sniffily view Dalby as yet another signing to add to the legions already in place in the club’s Under-23s. But Dalby is a genuine star in the making. Standing at 6ft 3in, he is a strapping front man who broke into the Orient team last season aged 17 and scored on his full debut against Crawley. His appearances have been strictly rationed this season to protect him, but it is a measure of his calibre that he trialled for Palace earlier this season and has been targeted by the Championship big hitters as well as plenty of others in the Football League. Orta has taken the unusual step of predicting that Dalby will be a first teamer at Elland Road in the not too distant future. Whether that is because of the criticism directed at the club for investing too much in the future rather than the present, or because Dalby is viewed as more likely to make it, but it is a fascinating appraisal of the new boy.
This Is Futbol rating 7/10