The Argentine coach isn’t easy to work with but could be the magic ingredient for Leeds.
Marcelo Bielsa is one of the most revered coaches in football, inspiring or teaching some of the absolute best around. Guardiola, Pochettino, Sampaoli – they’re just three who put their success down to the inspiration of Bielsa.
So why would that guy end up in the Championship with Leeds United? Why has he never been given an elite club to run?
Because Bielsa is difficult, he’s intense, and he takes an incredible amount of faith – he’s a huge risk for successful clubs. Lille didn’t give it to him and were nearly relegated, Marseille couldn’t deal with him and regressed, and Athletico Bilbao saw all their progress undone after key players were made unavailable to him through sales and contract disputes.
That doesn’t sound like the perfect manager for a club as tumultuous as Leeds, and in some ways it’s insanity, but it could also be exactly what they’ve needed all this time.
Leeds are quite possibly the biggest club in the Football League. They have a history of success that should see them at the top end of the Premier League and yet they’ve languished outside of it for over a decade.
Here, however, is an almighty risk presenting itself and one that could see them on a path not just to promotion but to incredible success. Clubs that have given Bielsa what he needed, such as Newell’s Old Boys (who named their stadium after Bielsa), Velez Sarsfield, and Athletic Bilbao have gone on to achieve new heights, be it progression to European finals or winning the national title against all odds.
That can be Leeds’ fate if they head down this path, too. They would have a coach who is, tactically, levels above anyone else in their division and virtually everyone in the Premier League. They shouldn’t be taking the same route as everyone else, not a club this size who can give a coach like Bielsa what he needs to make his methods work.
It takes an awful lot of faith and intensity but this could be what Leeds have waited for all this time.
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