Leeds United director of football, Victor Orta, is persistently holding to his point of view in insisting that famed Argentine coach and current club boss Marcelo Bielsa has been key to most of the club’s signings since his arrival.
Leeds United signed Brazilian winger Raphinha on summer transfer deadline day from Rennes, ending the window with four quality additions to their first-team. And Whites coach Bielsa claimed in the aftermath of the signing that players like Raphinha choose clubs, not managers, refusing to acknowledge that his presence at Elland Road played a role in the Brazilian’s decision to move to Yorkshire.
“For me he is wrong, absolutely wrong. For me one of the reasons a player chooses Leeds United is for Marcelo Bielsa,” Orta told Yorkshire Evening Post, crediting Raphinha’s decision to the humble head coach instead of the status and history of the club.
“We try to explain to them how he can improve their level, how he can make them better, how it could put them in their next level, international level. We have 200 examples of him improving the performance of a player.
“One of the things they base the decision on is his presence. To be honest it helped me a lot. I can use a lot of careers he changed and it will continue.”
Although Leeds historically are no doubt a huge club, not many players would have agreed to join them this summer despite their recent return to the English top-flight after a long absence spanning years.
Yet despite Bielsa not boasting an impressive resume, with the 2004 summer Olympics Tournament being the last time he had won any piece of silverware on the job prior to earning promotion with Leeds, his reputation and ability of undeniably and remarkably bringing out the best in players speak volumes, which attracted Raphinha and others this summer.