When Leeds United appointed Marcelo Bielsa as manager, they were taking something of a risk.
The Argentinian manager had never plied his trade in England, and his last attempt at management didn’t exactly go to plan when he struggled to get anything out of a Lille squad he built himself.
He left the club after just five months, with Luis Campos later suggesting it was the manager’s decision to let experienced players go that led to the parting of ways.
Six months later, Bielsa was appointed as the man to change everything around at Elland Road, which is exactly what he did.
In stark contrast to his time in the north of France, the manager has made Leeds relevant again at the top of the Championship, where they currently sit top after the Covid-19 league suspension.
Lille, down their end, are doing very well under Christophe Galtier, who succeeded Bielsa, and Gérard Lopez, the club owner, spoke to Onze Mondial as to why things didn’t work out between the Ligue 1 side and the Argentine.
He said: “Maybe for someone extreme, he just went too far in what he wanted to do. Did he just go with his ideas? Maybe too much, and since there was no counterweight… Even intelligent people can sometimes get it wrong. I think he maybe got it wrong on certain things. He didn’t want to work with certain people who are very important for the club”.
It appears Bielsa has since learned from his mistakes, and while he has certainly imposed his style and way of working at Leeds, he doesn’t appear have the same power he was given at Lille.
Maybe that’s the key with the man they nickname El Loco: let him do his thing while reining him in just a little bit when needed.
