Is Leeds’ Bielsa links first sign Radrizzani will copy Wolves model?

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Leeds United have been linked with an ambitious move for Marcelo Bielsa after parting company with Paul Heckingbottom.

Speaking to BBC Sport back in March, Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani suggested that he intended to try and copy Wolves if he received clarification that the club’s relationship with Jorge Mendes was totally legal.

His suggestion that he wanted to potentially emulate Wolves’ model took many by surprise given that he had previously incurred the wrath of the Molineux faithful on Twitter by questioning the links between the club and the super agent – as reported by BBC Sport.

The authorities had no issue with the situation at Wolves, and Nuno Espirito Santo’s men went on to win the Championship title at a canter. So it would be little surprise if Radrizzani still had every intention of recreating the structure at Elland Road after a campaign which saw Leeds fall out of promotion contention long before the season reached the business end.

And perhaps Leeds fans have now had their first glimpse of the Whites’ attempt to copy Wolves with the surprise news that the Yorkshire side are keen to lure Marcelo Bielsa to the club as their next head coach.

The Daily Mail recently reported that talks have already begun in the wake of Paul Heckingbottom’s departure last week. And if Leeds could bring Bielsa in, that may well be an indication that Radrizzani is use Wolves’ success as inspiration.

Nuno was a surprise appointment at Wolves last year. After the poor tenure Walter Zenga endured, it may have shocked few if Wolves went with an experienced manager at Championship level for this past season. Nuno was undoubtedly a marquee name having managed the likes of Valencia and Porto before arriving, but it was still seen by some as a gamble given that the Portuguese had no prior experience of England’s second tier.

One year on, Nuno is now preparing to manage a Premier League side, while Leeds appear to be keen to make the kind of appointment that will capture the fans’ imagination, but see a lot of people ask the same sort of questions that greeted Nuno.

Landing Bielsa would be an incredible coup for Leeds, but there will still be those who feel that a wet Tuesday night in Stoke – a trip that the Whites may well have to make next season – will test Bielsa like nothing he has faced before because he would be enjoying his first taste of English football, and more specifically, of the Championship.

Nuno needed just one season to answer his doubters emphatically, and Bielsa has the potential to make a similar impact at Elland Road. And if he does, perhaps the Leeds fans should expect to see Radrizzani try and take more pointers from Wolves when it comes to future decisions.