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This can’t possibly be true, can it? Yes, THAT Bielsa. No really, this can’t be true, right?
Leeds United is reportedly linked with former Chile, Argentina, Athletic Bilbao, Marseille, and Lille manager Marcelo Bielsa.
El Leeds quiere a Bielsa como entrenador. https://t.co/EAnbGWdtNj
— El Correo (@elcorreo_com) May 31, 2018
Reports from El Correro, which is based in Bilbao, say that Bielsa is currently in negotiations to become the next head coach at Leeds United. The Yorkshire Evening Post has also confirmed that Bielsa is a candidate for the job. Bielsa had an extremely successful run as manager of Athletic Bilbao, going as far as getting to the Europa League finals with the Basque club.
According to sources, Marcelo Bielsa is meeting the Presidents of Talleres (a personal friend of his) and Pachuca in Mexico. A move to #LigaMX is a much more likely scenario for El Loco as he would rather manage in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/gWFXbm7msa
— Newell's Old Boys - English (@Newells_en) May 17, 2018
Ni Bielsa, ni Klinsmann, ni Aguirre, al final se impuso la opción principal de Marco Garcés. Pako Ayestarán es el nuevo entrenador de Pachuca.
— Marco Iván Patiño (@Patinho92) May 28, 2018
Bielsa had also been rumoured to have been in contact with Liga MX club Pachuca over their managerial vacancy, but those rumours never came to fruition and the Mexican club appointed Spaniard Pako Ayestaran instead.
Leeds have a lot of links to Spain, with the Director of Football, Victor Orta, having spent most of his career in Spain, and also with Board member Ivan Bravo, who spent time at Real Madrid before becoming part of the Aspire Academy. Leeds also has an informal “feeder club” agreement with Cultural Leonesa in the second division of Spanish football.
Donald Trump meeting with Kim Kardashian. 6/10 weird
— Mighty Whites Pod (@mightywhitespod) May 31, 2018
Leeds appointing Marcelo Bielsa, would be 10/10 weird. Also, awesome. #lufc #MOT https://t.co/5KzTyJCCSq
The shock news of a coach of the stature of Bielsa coming to Leeds is quite exciting, although it is being taken with a giant grain of salt by all Leeds fans. Fans whipped themselves in a frenzy last May when a variety of “big” names were tossed around as possible candidates, including reports saying that former Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri was due to be named as manager.
Of course, all of those links ended up not being true and the club hired unknown manager Thomas Christiansen before sacking him last January. They replaced him with former Barnsley FC manager Paul Heckingbottom, but after only getting four wins from 16 matches, Heckingbottom’s record has not inspired confidence.
So is this rumour like all the other rumours from last year? Or will Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani break the bank and hire an extremely high profile manager to coach Leeds? Time will tell, and we can dream, right?