Leeds United appointed Marcelo Bielsa as their new manager earlier in the summer.
Prior to taking charge of the Champions side in June, the Argentine coach was without a job for months following his dismissal from Lille in December 2017.
He joined the Ligue 1 outfit in May 2017 on a two-year deal, but was shown the exit door after managing the side for six months. Over the weekend, we covered the comments from the French club’s former captain, Rio Mavuba, who explained the arrival of the 63-year-old forced him to leave the club.
Lille chairman Gérard López was the guest on RMC Sport’s show ‘Footissime’ on Monday, and he revealed he was forced to part ways with the current Leeds boss after he lost the dressing room at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
López made it very clear he feels this is inevitable given how Bielsa approaches the game.
“It’s not very fair to the coach because there are dressing rooms that are behind the coach, even in the worst situations, while others that do not back their coach, even in regular situations,” Bielsa’s former club chief explained.
“With very intense coaches like Bielsa, at a certain moment, there is a break and we must always choose the team, the institution, rather than the person.”
The South American club has enjoyed a good start to his life in England as Leeds are third in the Championship table, while the same can be said about Lille as they are second in the Ligue 1 table.
Given the ‘intense’ approach, Leeds will know Bielsa won’t be at the club forever, but with things going well the weight on the players won’t be anything like what it was at Lille.
