Marcelo Bielsa has been getting a lot of praise as Leeds United boss this season – and rightly so.
Despite this being Leeds’ first season back in the Premier League after 16 years, they’re flying.
The Elland Road side are 12th in the table and 12 points clear of the bottom three, meaning that at the moment, they really don’t have to be worry about being relegated.
Instead, the Whites could and definitely should be aiming to finish in the top half of the Premier League and if it happens, it’d be one hell of an achievement.
Leeds finished 13th in the Championship when Bielsa came on board two-and-a-half years ago, so you could say that the 65-year-old Argentine has transformed the club – and he has.
But United legend Lucas Radebe has singled out owner Andrea Radrizzani for praise, claiming on LUTV that the Italian businessman is the single biggest reason behind the club’s rise in recent years.
He said: “I think I’d like to say as well what the chairman has done to the club. He has transformed them. I mean that is the reason the club are where they are. Hopefully, we will soon see them competing in the Champions League. Hopefully, fingers-crossed because that’s where they belong.“
You really can’t understate Bielsa’s impact, but Radebe is right in a way because without Radrizzani – or Victor Orta and Angus Kinnear, both of whom deserve a big mention – then hiring the former Athletic Bilbao coach wouldn’t have been possible.
With respect to Leeds, the South American’s CV made it look like Bielsa was taking a step down at the time, but clearly he respected the ambition and you have to credit Radrizzani for that.
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