After signing a new contract with Leeds United, Marcelo Bielsa expressed his unmitigated appreciation for something that is “extraordinary”. The feeling is mutual equally well reciprocated, as far as the club owners are concerned.
The news that the Argentinian had signed a one-year contract to stay at Elland Road came as no great surprise to anyone even before he perfunctorily blurted it out at dinner time yesterday, announcing the issue had been “resolved” before any early-evening press release to that effect was rushed out.
Actions – more than words (or contracts) – show Bielsa’s unquestionable commitment to Leeds, the club the indomitable, legendary 66-year-old has managed for longer than any other. The doyen’s June impromptu appearance to coach some of the academy’s youngest players clearly emphasized that, as did his micro-management to upgrades at the Thorp Arch training ground where the session took place on.
Actions aside, the words were nonetheless impactful and pretty telling too, an indication of how appreciative Bielsa is for the backing he has received at Elland Road. Normally in football that is code for the amount of money a manager is allowed to spend in the transfer market, but in Bielsa’s case the spending outlay has only been extended to cover one senior figure, new left-back Junior Firpo, some junior and back-up players and also for endorsing the seal of permanence on Jack Harrison’s loan moves. Although his squad seems to be getting noticeably smaller, the great man is happy about it – it is the unseen support which has left him “astounded”.
“This is an extraordinary club,” said Bielsa, who joined in the summer of 2018. “It’s not often that you have a club that designates so much investment to improving the training.
“Leeds have made a significant financial contribution for the tools for the manager to prepare his players. Everything we need in this area, the club has resolved it with a very high investment, whether it be the pitches, the facilities, the technology, commodities for the work of the players, and in this sense I am astounded by the conduct of the club.
“Thorp Arch year on year has been improving. Free spaces which previously couldn’t be used have been made into spaces that can be used with grass.
“One pitch has undersoil heating and the facilities have been improved so that can happen with two other pitches in the future. There is a path being created for the machinery for the work around the pitches so that it doesn’t damage the pitches and there are a lot more minor details that help our work to be better. All of this is done with a lot of professionalism.
“The most important coaches in world football would value what this club means in terms of organization, structure and the public.
“There is another step to be able to get these players that triple in value from what Leeds can obtain because I insist the powerful clubs are not there for no reason. But what I say is what Leeds produces.”
To be fair, Leeds have simply recognized Bielsa’s proven, extraordinary coaching talents and the resume he has and they are essentially just doing everything in their power to make him happy in his job. Needless to say, he has more than repaid them by taking them into the top half of the Premier League after having languished 15 years outside the division.
The suspicion lurks that Bielsa would ideally like a box-to-box midfielder – with Huddersfield Town’s Lewis O’Brien being mentioned – and perhaps another winger this summer but cool as he always is, he is certainly not about to rock the boat. For the meantime, he is happy with the recruitment of left-back Firpo, recovered from injury to be available at Manchester United tomorrow, and 20-year-old goalkeeper Kristoffer Klaesson.
“They are very well thought-out decisions, very well analyzed,” he reflected. “We think all the conditions are there for them to have a good time at Leeds.
“For a long time I have been working in professional football and very few times have I ever seen a club so well looked after to decide when we sign a player.
“Every year the club has reduced the amount of professionals and incorporated very few. This year is yet another example that many more players have left than arrived. There is a very prolific and fertile contribution from the academy.
“In terms of its organization, I consider Leeds an example. Victor Orta is the one who structures the arrival of players, the director of the academy (Adam Underwood) and Under-23s technical staff give nutrients to the first team and the owner makes investments he could easily ignore.”