Martinez worked under Leeds’ new manager during his time at Athletic Bilbao.
Bayern Munich star Javi Martinez has told the Bundesliga’s official website that new manager Niko Kovac shares a similar intensity to that of Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa in training.
Following the departure of Jupp Heynckes at the end of the season, Croatian Kovac took over at Bayern after an impressive start to managerial life in charge of his national side and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Taking over before the beginning of pre-season, Kovac began his plans for the new season and decided to ramp up the intensity in training in order to improve the overall fitness of his squad.
Spaniard Martinez stated that he has only face a harder pre-season on one other occasion, under Bielsa at Bilbao with Martinez only spending one pre-season with the new Leeds boss in 2012 – just before his late August move to Bayern.
“The preparations were tough and intense, but that’s exactly what we need,” Martinez said. “You could see in the Supercup against Frankfurt that we’re all fit.
“Only once before have I experienced a more intense pre-season: Marcelo Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao. Sometimes we trained for three-and-a-half hours.”
Bielsa has adopted the same approach at Leeds, with players undergoing double session and sleeping at a nearby hotel in order to keep them in and around Thorp Arch to go again on the training field.
It seems to have paid off, with Leeds able to adopt Bielsa’s high press and high tempo style of play that requires an enormous amount of effort and hard work.
Leeds have won three from three, promotion contenders Stoke City and Derby 3-1 and 4-1, before a much-changed side saw off Bolton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup 2-1. Now, Leeds play host to Rotherham on Saturday.
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