Mauricio Pochettino has made no secret of his admiration for Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa.
Pochettino played under Bielsa for Argentina, and tried to take some of the master’s principles into his own coaching career, with Espanyol, Southampton, and Tottenham.
Bielsa’s managerial career has not resulted in a high number of trophy wins, but Pochettino feels this not to be important.
Speaking to Fox Sports Argentina, Pochettino compared Bielsa to his country’s World Cup winning managers, César Luis Menotti in 1978, and Carlos Bilardo in 1986.
He said: “Bielsa was an inspiration. He made us love football, motivated us to be able to follow this path as coaches It was that, an inspiration for many of us who were led by him.
I was not lucky to work with Bilardo and Menotti but having won the 78 and 86 makes both of them referents for having won a title of such magnitude. It is true that Marcelo could be included. The main asset of Bielsa is to have created something different from Bilardo and Menotti. He may be a bit in the middle.
“He can be a coach at their level, I can say yes. Same ability and same talent.”
Bielsa had a chance to replicate the same success earlier in his career when he led Argentina at the 2002 World Cup, but it ended in disaster with the Albiceleste crashing out at the group stages.
He redeemed himself somewhat by helping Argentina’s under-23 side to the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, before taking charge of Chile’s national team and laying the groundwork for their Copa America successes.
Whether he goes on to have one more crack at the Argentina job in the future is unclear. It may be something which would appeal.
For now though Bielsa is fully focused on Leeds United, and achieving a historic promotion.
Then the challenges of the Premier League beckon. Bielsa may still be carving his finest masterpiece yet.
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