'We support him unconditionally' - Andrea Radrizzani on Leeds United's backing for Marcelo Bielsa, ambitions and club value - YEP 2/10/21
Leeds United majority owner Andrea Radrizzani says Marcelo Bielsa has his and the club's unconditional support.
By Graham Smyth
The Italian media mogul has again put on record his belief
that the Whites can break into the Premier League's top six, if they stay up
this season.
Leeds sit 17th after 10 games and have thus-far struggled to
replicate the swashbuckling attacking football that led them to a Championship
title and a top-10 finish in their first Premier League season in 16 years.
Over the past several weeks injuries have struck time and again to rob Bielsa
of his first-choice centre forward Patrick Bamford, right-back Luke Ayling, new
left-back Junior Firpo and German international centre-half Robin Koch.
Defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips also had a spell on the sidelines.
Although the head coach refuses to make an excuse of
injuries and continues to insist he has the resources to cope with the absence
of key men like Bamford, Leeds have struggled for goals and wins. The 2-1
victory at basement side Norwich on Sunday was only their second three-point
haul in the league this season.
Radrizzani says Leeds have benefitted from giving full
backing Bielsa since his 2018 arrival at Elland Road, reaping rewards on the
pitch and retaining the Argentine's services for a longer period than any of
his previous clubs.
"When I picked Marcelo Bielsa I knew it would come with
challenges, but we support him unconditionally and I think the result has been
seen on the pitch," said Radrizzani, as reported by PA Agency.
"Also for himself, this has been the longest spell of
his career as a coach, with Leeds United because as a club we supported him
unconditionally."
Staying in the top flight for a number of seasons has always
been key to the grand plans of Radrizzani and ownership partners the San
Francisco 49ers. They want to redevelop Elland Road and return the club to the
upper echelons of the English top flight. Their European dream looked more
likely last season than it does currently, but staying up remains central to
their ambition. Leeds still need to walk among Premier League giants for a substantial
period of time before they can run.
"Now we are partnered with 49ers, this is fundamentally
very important because it will be very difficult to stay in the Premier League,
but if we stay in it this year I think we can go much more than last year and
go into the top six," Radrizzani told the Web Summit in Lisbon.
"Start to renovate the stadium and continue to grow the
value of this club."
Radrizzani's confidence in being able to make his and Leeds'
dreams a reality is rooted in what he says is a history of proving critics
wrong. He says the club is now likely to be worth four times the £100m his Aser
group invested in buying and transforming it.
"All my life I have been seen as an underdog, people
didn't give me credit. It happened with Leeds United, people said it would
crash, he has never done football before, he will lose money. Aser invested
about £100million in buying and rebuilding the club from the Championship. We
are now in the Premier League, we have a lot of international, not only in the
first team.
"We have completely turned around the club and the value
is now probably four times higher. It was a good investment, a great bet and a
good challenge. We always come with rationale, people think I am crazy but
there is always a rationale because we know with the right people and the right
management and a right plan, give the time to flourish the project we could
achieve the right result. That's what we did."
