OPINION
Andrea Radrizzani has divided opinion during his time in full ownership of Leeds United.
He has invested a lot of money into the club, initially impressing by buying back Elland Road and funding an overhaul of the squad that at one stage topped the Championship table.
However it all started to roll downhill fast. His decision to sack Thomas Christiansen and replace him with Paul Heckingbottom turned out to be a bad one with the latter sacked last week and his trust in director of football Victor Orta has not gone down well at all with fans.
Radrizzani made a lot of promises when he bought out Massimo Cellino. One was to show more patience and stability, but his behaviour so far has shown the complete opposite.
Now, it appears that the Italian businessman is ditching his plan for patience and is about to prove that he means business by trying to appoint Marcelo Bielsa as Heckingbottom’s successor in the Elland Road hotseat.
It has been widely reported that the Whites are in talks with the manager who has earned rave reviews from Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola, and managed the likes of Athletic Bilbao, Marseille, Lille and Argentina.
Not only does it look as though Radrizzani is going after a man with an impressive CV, he is also going after someone who has earned a huge amount of money in his most recent job.
Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Phil Hay has claimed on his personal Twitter account on Thursday that Bielsa was on wages worth a stunning £8million-a-year (£154,000-a-week) during his short-lived spell at Lille.
they did (and do) want something done this week but if they think Bielsa is looking good, I don't see them pulling the plug on it. Was always going to be a complicated negotiation process. His wage at Lille was circa £8m.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) June 7, 2018
Surely, there is no way that Leeds would usually come anywhere near to matching that unless Radrizzani is willing to go all in on the Argentine.
It is understood that the Whites want their talks to be wrapped up by the end of the week and they are not willing to back down just yet – even though his last paycheque would have been astronomical.
It’s a risky strategy by Radrizzani, but it could also be the one that gets Leeds back into the Premier League.