OPINION
Pontus Jansson is expected to finalise his move from Leeds to Brentford early this week after the centre-back was told he had no future under Marcelo Bielsa.
According to Mirror journalist David Anderson, Jansson’s time was up after he disobeyed Marcelo Bielsa’s orders to let Aston Villa score in the 1-1 Championship game against Aston Villa towards the end of the season.
But there were plenty of signs that Jansson was on a collision course at Leeds before that controversial incident.
Last October he was banned for a game after swearing in a post-match interview with Sky after a 1-1 draw with Brentford. And he doubled down afterwards in an interview with a Swedish outlet where he said he’d been “forced” to apologise.
In January he was embroiled in a spat with the Stoke stewards after being sent off in the 2-1 defeat at the bet365 stadium.
Stewards order Jansson to go down the tunnel. Jansson tells them to go forth and multiply and throws his shirt into the away end instead. Then pushes a stewards as he walks into the tunnel. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) January 19, 2019
Then, in February, after a 1-0 defeat to QPR – which is when the wheels started falling off the Bielsa Bus – Jansson pushed owner Andrea Radrizzani out of the way when he was shaking the hand of every Leeds player coming off the pitch.
Love this from @andrearadri. Seeing every leeds player off the pitch at full time! #togetherleeds #LUFC pic.twitter.com/U4aTR4Yjmr
— Daniel Ferguson (@dan_ferguson87) February 26, 2019
Fast forward to April and Jansson was the only player who publicly dissented when Bielsa asked his team to let Aston Villa score.
Add all of these incidents up – and they’re by no means the only ones on Jansson’s CV – and you’ve got a maverick player who holds little truck for authority.
Ironically, these traits are what endeared him to the Leeds fans who loved his combative nature and passion for the game. Jansson embodied the ‘Leeds player’ for a lot of fans.
But not for Bielsa. Bielsa is a manager for whom team is everything – players are tools and they’re there to perform as part of the whole.
Jansson, who often said he wanted to play in the Premier League, was a key player for Leeds – in fact, Bielsa said of him in May: “Jansson has been our best player in the Championship over the season”. But that’s not enough for a manager who has a very pure vision of what his team should do and how they should act.
Leeds must now try to win promotion without Jansson but it’s one of the first real tests between Bielsa and the supporters. The refrain from supporters is “In Bielsa we trust” and fans still do, despite still being largely supportive of Jansson.
What’s illuminating is that there have been no Premier League sides in for Jansson. As good as the Leed fans think he is, that’s a sign that he’s not irreplaceable.
The real question is whether Leeds will replace him or whether Ben White is the man.
But if anyone wasn’t sure, they will be now – at Leeds, it’s Bielsa’s way or the highway.