Sunderland player's Leeds United reveal was no surprise as Victor Orta was in charge: View | OneFootball

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After two years of injury hell, Niall Huggins is starting to show Sunderland and the Championship what he's really about.

An arrival on Wearside in 2021, Huggins had played just once for Leeds United but plenty of times for them at under-21 level, but he headed to the Stadium of Light as a 20-year-old to advance his career.

The Wales youth international has endured hell though for most of his time at the Black Cats, playing just eight times in his first two full seasons there due to several injuries that piled up.

Since mid-September though, the 22-year-old has been a regular under Tony Mowbray, whether it's at right-back or left-back, and his performances have been giving Leeds somewhat food for thought due to his surprise exit over two years ago.

What has Niall Huggins said on his Leeds United exit?

Despite being handed his Leeds debut the previous season, Huggins was sold to League One side Sunderland in the summer of 2021, ending his 12-year association with the West Yorkshire outfit.

To this day though, Huggins remains confused about the timing of his exit as despite Leeds being a Premier League club at the time, he felt like he had a real future with them.

“I thought I was doing really well," Huggins recently told Y Clwb Pêl-Droed.

"I made my debut in the December, which was the best day of my life - playing for my boyhood club.

"I did well, and I was on the bench quite a lot until the end of the season.

“The manager at the time [Bielsa] liked me, but then I had a call telling me I probably wasn’t going to be involved the next season. Never really got an exact answer why.

"It was a bit frustrating."

Huggins of course landed at Sunderland, but whilst his first two seasons were incredibly frustrating due to injuries on Wearside, the versatile full-back is making up for lost time with his recent performances.

“When I found out there was interest from Sunderland, I put it to bed," Huggins continued.

“It was the best thing to do because I knew that Sunderland was a great opportunity.

“I signed for four years - and thank God I did after all those injuries!”

And the man to blame for Huggins' exit may be Victor Orta - Leeds' eccentric former director of football who certainly made some odd decisions during his time at Elland Road.

Orta was always a passionate figure at the club who often caused controversy and headlines for his actions, and there were some deals struck by the Spaniard that severely backfired on the club - namely Jean Kevin Augustin.

There were other big-money deals struck by Orta that proved to be flops as well, and when it came to letting some players go, like Huggins, perhaps they were sold for too cheap.

Leeds are currently seeing right now with Ipswich Town's Leif Davis and Huggins that there was two talented full-backs worth persisting with and developing as they are showing what they can do in the Championship.

Would they have developed better than they have done if they'd had stayed at Leeds instead of being sold? Who knows, but both would certainly hold a claim to being a part of Daniel Farke's starting 11 right now on their current abilities.

Orta however has landed on his feet following his Leeds exit earlier this year, almost immediately landing the role of director of football at Spanish side Sevilla, which is a pretty good job to get after an up and down time at United.

But it comes as zero surprise that Orta was probably behind the decision to let Huggins go on the cheap - he could end up making Sunderland some money down the line.