The latest ripples on the Spanish side have it that six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi wants Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa to become the new Barcelona boss with Quique Setien struggling to impress at the Camp Nou club, according to The Sun.
Argentine Bielsa has managed to make a major impression having recently helped the Elland Road outfit return to the English Premier League as the season for the Championships concluded, ending their 16-year absence in the top-flight.
Argentine Bielsa has been most deservingly credited for his unmistakable influence making a massive difference in the impressive managerial careers of the likes of Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, and Messi has now seen it fit and ideal to bring him to Barcelona, believing this to be the ideal solution to sort out the current mess at Camp Nou.
Barcelona has not been the Barca of old since Manchester City boss Guardiola left in 2012, with just one Champions League trophy added to their display case since then.
It is understood that Bielsa is yet to agree to a new contract with Leeds having signed only a one-year deal after last summer’s heartbreak.
The ink on the Argentine’s current deal runs fades out this week, but it’s been expected that a new one is in the offering soon as the club were busy celebrating their liberation from relegation and didn’t want talks to get in the way of their festivities.
Barcelona have yet to make any official moves to approach him, and it remains to be seen if they have what it takes to lure him away from Elland Road right now.
Bielsa has yet to do a stint as manager in the Premier League, and it would be interesting to see how he would fare, assuming he doesn’t get prised away by Barca.