Bielsa’s stayed in England to supervise Leeds’ training ground work: his actions are as good as any signature - The Athletic 18/6/21

By Philip Buckingham

The Premier League fixture lists for 2021-22 caused more than a ripple of excitement around Elland Road upon their release early on Wednesday morning.

Manchester United away will be first up for Leeds United on the weekend of August 14-15. As season openers go, they come no bigger.

All summer roads will ultimately lead to Old Trafford eight weeks from now and, for the Leeds hierarchy, there is no doubt who is going to guide the way.

For all Leeds head coach Marcelo Bielsa is yet to add his signature to a new one-year contract, it is an extension his employers believe to be a “formality” this summer.

“As normal with Marcelo, putting pen to paper he sees as an irrelevance,” chief executive Angus Kinnear told BBC Radio Leeds this week. “It’s really emotionally and psychologically where he is. He’s certainly with Leeds United for the next season.”

Bielsa’s actions are considered to be as good as any scribble on a contract and by that metric there is scarcely a crumb of concern his focus is on anything but a fourth season in charge of the Yorkshire club he first joined in the summer of 2018.

Four weeks after rounding off Leeds’ long-awaited Premier League return with a burst of four straight wins over Tottenham Hotspur, Burnley, Southampton and West Bromwich Albion, Bielsa has barely stopped his preparations for next season.

Lengthy recruitment meetings have been held with director of football Victor Orta as plans are drawn up to improve a side who finished last season ninth, only seven points adrift of the Champions League places. A new left-back tops the priority list, especially given the ongoing uncertainty over the future of Ezgjan Alioski, whose contract expires in a fortnight. Another body in midfield is also being sought.

Significant funds are again available, when required, for a club who broke their 20-year-old transfer record to sign Rodrigo from Valencia for £27 million last summer.

Bielsa is content to leave the negotiating to Orta but continues to take a more hands-on role in other areas. In a summer that has seen the Elland Road pitch relaid with a modern surface, the training ground at Thorp Arch — Bielsa’s most cherished domain — is also undergoing improvements. There, he micromanages and sweats on the detail.

Training pitches to match the new one installed at Elland Road were considered a must by Bielsa, who has made a point of supervising all renovation work — “To the training ground director’s delight,” joked Kinnear.

Demanding would be an understatement.

“It’s a challenge daily,” Orta told The Phil Hay Show podcast last month, when assessing his working life with Leeds’ head coach. Summer does not afford anyone respite.

Bielsa has opted against taking a holiday back in his native Argentina, just as he did during a truncated close-season ahead of 2020-21. Time, he believes, is better spent at Thorp Arch.

And there the research and planning never stop. Training sessions have already been mapped out in advance, while future opponents, youth teams included, are researched at length. Hours are spent watching games at all levels, domestically and internationally.

What constitutes light relief for Bielsa this summer have been impromptu coaching sessions with local youngsters.

He was pictured overseeing an under-11s training class at Thorp Arch earlier this month, joking via his interpreter that the children would be required to play his trademark “murderball” for three hours.

“The kids just loved it,” Leeds United fan Matthew Price told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “They couldn’t believe that he turned up to train them.” Bielsa is also known to regularly cast his eye over training sessions at Leeds’ academy base throughout the year, offering advice to coaches and players at all levels. Academy boss Adam Underwood, in particular, is in regular contact.

The emotional investment runs as deep as it ever has for Bielsa, whose managerial career has never known him stay at a club longer than he’s been with Leeds. That brings contentment for his employers and alleviates any notion of panic as several Premier League rivals scratch around trying to fill managerial vacancies this summer.

“We agreed the terms (on Bielsa’s contract) several weeks ago — several months ago, perhaps,” said Kinnear. “The measure we use within the club is whether he is engaged: is he working on next season? He is. He’s working and is incredibly diligent.

“I’m not sure there’s any other manager in the Premier League who is taking no time off and is not leaving the training ground. That shows his commitment. I’m treating the contract as a formality.”

It could be days before an extension is finally signed off. It could be weeks.

Bielsa, who turns 66 in a month, kept Leeds waiting until the eve of last season before inking the deal placed in front of him, lest we forget. If Kinnear is correct, though, the contract really is an “irrelevance” for a head coach consumed by matters he believes are of greater importance.