Loaned to Dijon this season, Hamza Mendyl is a man who has lived an interesting couple of years.
Coming through at Lille, the left-back then went to Germany with Schalke, where he had a tougher time than expected, before returning the France.
During his time with the northern French club, he got the chance to work with Marcelo Bielsa, now at Leeds United, although their relationship was rather short.
He explained to France Football: “When I arrived, I was returning from a cruciate injury. I trained with jim just twice. I played a game too, I remember it well. It was against Rennes, the day of my birthday. He brought me on second half, and I got a red card. After that game, I went on international duty.
“When I was returning, I missed my flight. I came back late and Bielsa didn’t want anything to do with me anymore. He sent me to the reserves, but he’s a very good manager. I felt his trainings were going to help us progress, even if we did a lot of work without the ball. It was hard to take pleasure from it.
“He remains a great manager, especially when you see what he did at Marseille and the way he help players like Benjamin Mendy, who’s an example for me, progress”.
Out of all his managerial jobs, Bielsa’s time at Lille was probably his worst, sacked within the same season he was appointed in a rather ugly parting of ways.
Of course, things have turned around rather nicely for him since then, appointed by Leeds in the Championship where he has worked wonders at Elland Road.
Narrowly missing out on promotion last season, the club are now once again on the right track this year, currently topping England’s second-tier, tied on points with Swansea.
