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A recent revelation from BBC journalist Guillem Balague has confirmed that Leeds United were not the only side interested in appointing Marcelo Bielsa in the summer.
What’s the word?
Balague has provided some in-depth insight into Bielsa’s time at Elland Road via the BBC. The highly-respected journalist has spent four days at Leeds over the course of the past week in order to produce a documentary for BBC Radio 5 live, which will be broadcast at 8PM on Thursday evening.
Ahead of the release of the documentary, he has provided some preliminary insight via an article published on the BBC, and he made an intriguing revelation about Leeds’ pursuit of Bielsa.
Both Swansea City and West Ham United were in the market for a new manager in the summer and, according to Balague, both clubs made tentative approaches to appoint the Argentine.
Graham Potter and Manuel Pellegrini were eventually appointed to the respective clubs, but it appears that Leeds did well to lure their manager to Yorkshire with competition from a solid Premier League outfit looming large.
Leeds United’s charm resonated with Bielsa
Balague revealed: ‘He joined because of the history of the club, because it is in England – a football land where he wanted to test himself – and mostly because he received assurances from Radrizzani, Orta and Kinnear that whatever Leeds would promise, they would deliver.’
With a chequered history in football management, the Leeds job represented a massive opportunity to establish a romantic legacy. For all his plaudits and collection of trophy-laden, top-level managerial disciples, his career is lacking a defining point of success.
The history of the club is key: Leeds are a huge club and whoever leads them back into the top-flight following their lengthy exile will go down in club folklore.
That opportunity was something which neither Swansea or West Ham could lay on the table for Bielsa and, combined with the assurances from the Leeds hierarchy, his decision to take the job represented something of a no-brainer.