Bring up Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds United’s current manager, in a conversation and the response you receive is always likely to be mixed.
The Argentine is a character that divides opinion. On one hand, some believe him to be a genius, citing his success in Argentina, with Athletic Club Bilbao in Spain, or even his latest spell at Elland Road.
On the other hand, some aren’t impressed. They question his methods and point to stints at the likes of Lille and Lazio as proof that he’s far from great.
Rangers (Club Social de Deportes in Chile, not the Scottish side) goalkeeper Nicolás Peric undoubtedly falls into the latter category.
He worked under Bielsa during the Leeds United manager’s time with the Chile national team and in a recent interview with The Clinic, in which he compared Bielsa to Jorge Sampaoli, he didn’t hold back on his dislike of the man and his methods.
He said: “Sampaoli knew how to differentiate the moment of the matches. With Bielsa, no.
“He said there was a big win percentage with how I work, but you know what, when there is a better team in front, he always lost.
“Bielsa did not leave me anything. What’s more, I would say to the boys, ‘do you not think he treats us like idiots?’ because it was ‘pigeon’, ‘chicken’. He did not know our surnames.
“The idiot was always late. Lucho Bonini made the warm-ups and the idiot arrived when everything was ready.”
Peric went onto to joke that Daniel Morón, the goalkeeping coach for the Chile national team, ended up so stressed from working with Bielsa that he ‘needed a psychiatrist’.
In the end, the shot stopper simply admitted the Argentine’s style wasn’t for him, that he’s not a fan of managers who ‘use the whip’, preferring those who have a closeness with the players, like Claudio Borghi, nicknamed Bichi, did.
