Mateusz Klich performance at Euro 2020 is testament to how Bielsa has transformed his career - The Athletic 25/6/21

By Andy Jones

Football is all about turning points, some that can go for you and others against. It cannot be overstated how the arrival of Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds in the summer of 2018 has been to the benefit of so many.

Kalvin Phillips, or the Yorkshire Pirlo as he has become fondly known, has gone from Championship midfielder to man of the match in England’s opening Euro 2020 game against Croatia.

Watch Phillips and the influence of Bielsa is obvious, even if he is playing a different role under Southgate.

For Leeds he is a deep playmaker, for England a box-to-box runner. The ability, however, is consistent.

On the ball, he possesses plenty of quality, as demonstrated with his assist for Raheem Sterling in that game; and off it, the work ethic which has been the hallmark of the manager’s reign has been present. After the group stage, Phillips ranks third in pressures (93) made among all players at the tournament — a key feature of Bielsa’s system.

But that is not the end of Bielsa’s legacy at the international competition.

Slide your eyes slightly down the list of pressures and there sits Phillips’ club colleague Mateusz Klich; the Poland international managed 79.

It was an unhappy, and early end to the tournament for Klich and Poland. They were beaten 3-2 by Sweden in their final game ending their hopes of progressing into the last 16 despite two-goal Robert Lewandowski’s best efforts to turn the game around.

But the fact the 31-year-old started all three group games is a testament to how his career has turned around since Bielsa’s arrival. The player he inherited had not been a part of the international scene for just under four years, his last appearance coming against Gibraltar in September 2014.

When the Argentinian arrived, Klich was at a crossroads.

Leaving Polish side Cracovia in 2011 for Germany’s Wolfsburg began a period of Klich’s career where he struggled to settle. There were stints at Dutch side PEC Zwolle on loan before joining them permanently. Wolfsburg exercised a buy-back clause they had inserted into the sale, but after six months, he was sold to fellow German side Kaiserslautern before returning to the Netherlands with Twente 18 months later.

Leeds’ sporting director Victor Orta had been tracking the player and he was keen to bring him to Elland Road. A fee of around £1.5 million was agreed in the summer of 2017 but the theme of Klich’s career to that point continued.

A poor boot selection (blades instead of studs) in a Championship game against Cardiff City cost him massively.

There had been a handful of starts in the cup competition, but this was his first in the league. He slipped, lost possession and it led directly to a goal for the opposition in a 3-1 defeat.

At that moment, Klich’s career at Leeds hit an early roadblock. Dialogue with then-manager Thomas Christiansen dried up and he featured just once more after that. The Pole was low in the pecking order with Phillips, Eunan O’Kane and Ronaldo Viera ahead of him.

A loan move to Dutch side Utrecht seemed the best resolution in the January transfer window, and he went, but Klich did not say his goodbyes. He had unfinished business at Leeds and he told chief executive Angus Kinnear just that.

Paul Heckingbottom, who took over when Christiansen left the club a couple of weeks later, enquired about recalling him but that proved impossible.

Klich returned that summer but completing the promise he had made himself was going to be a challenge even with a new manager. Heckingbottom had moved on too, and Bielsa was in charge.

During that first off-season, the Argentinian split his players into three groups: Those he wanted to use, those he was unsure about and those who could leave. Klich found himself in the latter group.

But now we circle back to a phrase used earlier. Twists of fate can change everything.

Initially, Bielsa had explored the idea of turning Klich into a central defender and he featured briefly there in that first pre-season. Then Viera was sold to Sampdoria and Adam Forshaw suffered an injury. Bielsa had few other options to turn to – he needed Klich.

That was that.

Klich has been an almost ever-present since. His blistering start to that 2018-19 season, where he scored three goals in his first five Championship games, saw him recalled to the Poland squad by then-coach Jerzy Brzeczek. He started the first game of that international break against Italy and has featured consistently ever since, even if there have been question marks about his inclusion along the way.

Klich has always had a fast brain, important for Bielsa’s system, which demands concentration and awareness from the first second of a game to the last. Couple that with his tremendous stamina and work ethic, allowing him to press relentlessly, and you have a player the Leeds head coach cannot be without.

His physical size stands out — a very different look to the small, slim frame he had as a youngster, which initially counted against him. He was never overawed though, always confident in his ability.

Klich also stays relatively injury-free and suspension-free. The importance of reliability and availability can be understated.

This is not just a player who gets by on being an athlete; there is quality too. He goes about his work with a minimum of fuss, under the radar at times but crucial to Leeds’ attacking patterns on the ball, passing quickly and contributing to chance creation.

While Bielsa’s description of Klich being good enough to play “in all the best teams in the world” may seem a bit far-fetched, it is the kind of lavish praise that rarely comes from the Leeds boss.

Not many players make 92 consecutive Championship and play-offs appearances for their club. Klich did.

Klich’s final appearance of this past season came in the third-last game, a 4-0 victory over Burnley. He scored a superb, curling strike just before half-time, with Bielsa then confirming that he would be allowed an extended rest period to prepare for the Euros.

Make no mistake though, he will be straight back in the Leeds starting XI when the games begin again with that mouthwatering trip to Manchester United on August 14.