Leeds United reportedly see Marcelo Gallardo as a future head coach and the former River Plate boss is a committed disciple at the church of Marcelo Bielsa.
Like Mauricio Pochettino, Pep Guardiola and co, Gallardo credits one of the game’s most iconic, most innovative footballing minds for sparking his interest in the tactical side of the ‘Beautiful Game’.
Gallardo worked with Bielsa while representing the Argentine national team.
And while the sporadic nature of those international meet-ups meant Gallardo did not share as much time as he’d have liked with the former Albiceleste boss, Bielsa certainly left a lasting impression on a man who might just follow in his footsteps at Elland Road.
Will Marcelo Gallardo become Leeds United’s next manager?
“At the start, it was very hard to understand him,” Gallardo tells The Athletic. “He was very well prepared, very capable. But, at the same time, it was quite a complex message to grasp in the (few) days you get with a national team.
“But in time, I realised that there were few particularities in the message, in the way he tried to capture your interest to help you improve.
“Marcelo created this opening for me to learn and understand why certain things happen in the game. You can agree or disagree with the way certain teams play, but that’s another matter. I’m talking about the way someone opens your mind, or sparks something in you.
“It was magnificent, spectacular. I always say that he chose me.”
Gallardo, like so many of Bielsa’s other disciples, continues to spread his mentor’s word; exciting, free-flowing football and an insatiable will to win just two of the commandments he lives by.
Leeds are yet to fill a Bielsa-shaped void on the Elland Road touchline – some 14 months after his controversial sacking. Neither Javi Gracia or Jesse Marsch have bewitched an impassioned and expectant fanbase quite like the man who’s quiet authority and remarkable penchant for turning frogs into princes made him arguably Leeds’ most popular head coach since the legendary Don Revie.
Southampton also keen
According to The Telegraph, however, under-fire director of football Victor Orta believes Gallardo is the right man to continue Bielsa’s legacy.
47-year-old Gallardo won a remarkable 14 trophies in eight seasons at River Plate before departing in late-2022. Now, with his sabbatical coming to an end, the former Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain star is considering his next move.
“I am visualising what the next step in my career might be,” adds Gallardo; reportedly also on the radar of Southampton.
“It has to relate to a feeling. You have to find the right connection, the place where you can transmit your ideas. I’m not the kind of person who will just join any old club because I want to coach in Europe. That’s not my way of operating.
“I need to find a place that makes me feel something. I need a sense of identification. If I don’t get that, I have no problem continuing with what I’m doing now.”
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