There are probably a number of Leeds United fans who would prefer to see Eunan O’Kane sold by the Whites this summer.
Bielsa’s stature and reputation in the game makes it seem likely that any appointment will result in big changes amongst the Leeds squad rather than Bielsa considering adapting his own style. The system the Whites play is likely to be one of the things that the 62-year-old changes immediately after arriving – should the talks end positively.
It seems likely that Bielsa is likely to show the same desire to stick with his famous 3-3-3-1 or 3-3-1-3 system that Heckingbottom and predecessor Thomas Christiansen showed when they both seemingly refused to deviate from the 4-2-3-1 formation during their respective tenures.
And one key decision that Bielsa may have to make if he does indeed take over and quickly turn to his preferred system is whether he wishes to once again convert one of the club’s central midfielders into a centre-back as he previously did so superbly with Gary Medel.
With quality distribution a key skill required for the role, Adam Forshaw is arguably the obvious candidate in Leeds’ current ranks, but perhaps the position could also present Eunan O’Kane with a chance to get his career back on track.
The Elland Road faithful will not struggle to list a number of players that they would not mind seeing sold during this window, and O’Kane would probably be a name that would feature in many of those lists.
After struggling for chances under Garry Monk, the former Bournemouth ace was superb at the start of this past season, forming a fantastic partnership with Kalvin Phillips in that holding role.
O’Kane often did much of the gritty work while Phillips made an impact further up the pitch. But like many of his teammates, the 27-year-old went off the boil as the season continued.
However, perhaps Bielsa’s potential desire to convert a midfielder into one of his centre-backs may just give O’Kane one final chance to turn his Leeds spell around.
When he was playing at his best, O’Kane was frequently dropping into the defence to pick up the ball with the intention of using his passing ability to create something – in the process, briefly creating a back three that allowed the full-backs to brace themselves to get forward.
Those occasional moments should perhaps convince Bielsa to hand O’Kane a chance in the role. The transition is going to take some time for the entire team, so handing the Republic of Ireland international a position change that is not entirely unfamiliar could prove beneficial, especially during the early stages of Bielsa’s tenure.
O’Kane undoubtedly needs to improve from this past season – as does the majority of the squad – but he has the quality to turn his fortunes around, and arguably has some of the attributes needed to be one of the key nuances in Bielsa’s favoured system.
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