Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani made Marcelo Bielsa the most expensive manager in their history – and he’s now top of the Championship.
Marcelo Bielsa may be one of the most revolutionary and influential tacticians of the modern era but his arrival at Leeds United certainly came out of left-field.
Bielsa had never managed in England during a thirty year coaching career and his appointment was a risk, and an expensive one at that. Particularly as Leeds were being linked with experienced, proven Championship campaigners like Steve Bruce and Mick McCarthy.
But the record of four wins out of four, not to mention the at-times sumptuous football, played by Bielsa’s Leeds already appears to have justified the big leap taken by owner Andrea Radrizzani.
Clearly, the Italian is willing to think outside the box in an attempt to end Leeds’ 14-year Premier League exile. And his interest in Andrea Favilli is another example.
“It was a real interest for Favilli, we had been following him for two years,” Radrizzani said in a wide-ranging interview with Gazzetta dello Sport.
“(He is) a potentially very strong player who could do very well in England.”
Favilli is one of the most exciting young strikers in Italian football and was snapped up by Juventus after scoring five goals in 12 games for Ascoli. If Leeds wanted him, the 21-year-old wouldn’t have come cheap with Gianluca Di Marzio claiming he was valued at £17.5 million.
But Radrizzani, in making Bielsa the highest paid manager in Leeds’ history, has shown that he will put his money where his mouth is if he feels that a risk than reap rewards.
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