OPINION
If there was any doubt about how special Marcelo Bielsa is, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink went further than perhaps anyone else in recent months to dispel it.
The Argentine has made a huge impact in English football since transforming the team that finished 13th in last season’s Championship into an eyecatching side who are genuine promotion hopefuls and have led for much of the campaign.
All on a fairly low transfer and wages budget, certainly in comparison to some of Leeds’ big-spending second tier rivals.
Bielsa has turned around the United team through coaching know-how, tactical foresight and a strategy honed from three decades of top-level management.
According to former Leeds striker and QPR manager Hasselbaink, it is not just those in the Championship who have taken notice of Bielsa, but some of the biggest managerial names in the game.
“Bielsa came in with a big reputation. He’s been coaching and managing for a long, long time so we knew how he played. We know how he is and what he is about,” he told Sky Sports at the weekend.
“Last week I went to see Bielsa in training and had a chat with him and to see what he’s doing. Everybody’s talking about him – Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino – they are all talking about him.
“They are all looking at him and learning from him and that is one of the reasons why I wanted to go and see him as well. It was very impressive to see him work, to see his methods and to get an understanding, and I think Leeds has got a really bright future ahead.”
This will be music to the ears of Leeds followers and will also delight the club hierarchy who have been commended for their ambitious move to recruit a genuinely high-achieving coach.
Pochettino and Guardiola have both spoken of their immense respect in the past for Bielsa, but Hasselbaink’s claim they are still learning from the 60-something United man is something of a revelation.
The question for Leeds fans now is, can Bielsa convert the immense respect – and even awe – in which he is held by the game’s notables into completing promotion in his first campaign?
That would be one of the greatest achievements of a stellar career.