Victor Orta is warning any potential signings of the extreme measures Marcelo Bielsa asks from his players to prepare them for life at Leeds United, according to The Athletic.
The Whites Director of Football wants any summer recruits to arrive at Elland Road already aware of the task they will face playing under the Argentine. Orta would prefer they are alert to Bielsa’s exhausting demands, than turn up and be in for a shock.
Orta believes it’s as much for the player’s benefit to know what Bielsa has in store for them, as it is for the Leeds manager. The 66-year-old has already ramped up the Whites’ pre-season with brutal sessions to get the squad into shape.
Leeds began their pre-season preparations with a round of testing at the Carnegie School of Sport at Leeds Beckett University. Full training them commenced with double and triple sessions, often running into the evening and with regular murderball sessions.
The round of testing included deep physical and mental analysis, which the Whites’ medical staff will reference over the season. They hope the detailed baseline measures of joints and muscles will help assess the risk of any future injuries.
And Orta is detailing all of Bielsa’s extreme measures in his presentations to Leeds’ summer transfer targets. He specifically notes the training routines so they know what is to come and no one is taken by surprise.
Leeds and Bielsa are better off for Orta’s work
Leeds and Bielsa are better off in the immediate to medium-term with Orta warning potential targets of what’s to come. It ensures they arrive and hit the ground running, than expect an easy introduction to life at Elland Road.
Players would eventually get up to speed with Bielsa’s methods if Orta was not putting in the groundwork early on. But the Whites chiefs’ presentations allow any recruits to skip that stage and get right into the mix.
It also allows Bielsa to see which players are truly committed to the cause and have long-term futures at Leeds. Players not buying into his gruelling methods straight away may raise alarm bells over their desires to be at the club and help build on last term’s successes.
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